The G Bracelet Chronicles
by DK-Oken
Summary: Set in an Entirely new universe, where Gundams and Mobile suits have become human size suits of armor. Alan Drake dons the Freedom to protect his world from the people who wish to harm it.
1. Chapter 1: Bracelet

**Chapter 1: Bracelet**

"Come one, Come All!" "Try Your luck!"

These were just some of the loud voices heard at the annual Edge Fair. Vendors and carnies were trying to sucker young children and impressionable minds to waste their money on rigged games. These taunts and challenges were ignored by Alan, as he walked around the fair looking for something interesting to do. The rides were sub par, and the cotton candy was terrible. Alan was waiting for the scheduled target practice contest to begin that evening.

'Why isnt there anything good to do this year' He thought to himself, remembering when this fair used to bring him hours of enjoyment as a child, but in the past three years, He has found that the only fun he has is challenging others to the shooting contest every year. Alan continued to wander around the fair until he came across a charity booth. He read the sign to see that it was to benefit the children who were stricken with leprosy. They were accepting donations in exchange for bracelets, which were sitting in a jar. Alan decided to be charitible, and rustles through his pocket for a few dollars. He hands the donation to the gentleman at the kiosk and reaches for the jar, only to be stopped by the salesman.

"Oh no, sir. Those are just for show." he said. "Please, take this one instead. It's of better quality. Those are only there for the kids with the sticky fingers."

"Uh, Thanks" Alan responded. Alan was a bit confused, but in the end, he realize it made sense to leave the poor quality bracelets for the thieves. He accepted the bracelet and put it on while walking away. A few seconds after putting it on, the bracelet began to glow a bright blue. Alan raised his arm and saw this in amazement. He turned around to the Kiosk to ask the salesman about it.

"Hey Mister, What's..." He stopped to realize that then kiosk was gone. He continued to look at the glowing bracelet, as its glow began to stop. Alan had no idea what was going on, but after it stopped glowing, he stopped looking at it, and continued on to go and register for the contest.

As the evening came, as did the contestants for the shooting contest. Alan waited for the game to start, and got a look at his competition, or one competitor in particular. Jim Taylor has been the champion for the past three years, and Alan would always come second to him. He finally spotted him in the crowd.

"So, ready to lose that title this year?" Alan said to him from a distance. Jim looked back to him with a smug look.

"Alan Drake," he said back, "I figured you would have finally realized that you can't win and given up by now. How much more humiliation can you bear?"

Jim walked away from Alan right after saying that, which infuriated Alan to no end. He swore to himself that no matter what, he would win this year. The announcer called the six contestants to the range, and the showdown began. Each contestant received a pellet rifle, and was positioned to their range. The announcer walked over to a nearby podium and began talking into a microphone.

"Now the rules of the contest are simple. Six targets will come up for three seconds. Hit as many as you can before they disappear. This will happen three times, and you will be judged by how many you hit, and the accuracy of your shots."

Everyone understood the rules and raised their rifles in preparation. Alan gave one last taunting look to Jim and then looked at his shooting area. Just then, his bracelet began to glow again, only for a mere second or two though. Alan saw this, but ignored it to focus on the contest.

"Ready, Aim, Fire!" shouted the announcer as the targets began to move upward.

Alain saw the targets, but then, coming from nowhere, the motion of the targets seemed to slow down in his eyes, and a strange vision appeared in his eye. Lines appeared at the centre of each target, similar to multiple crosshairs or targeting lights. He was amazed that they were pointing at his targets, so he began to fire. He would hit one, then his arms would shift the rifle to the next closest target, as if he had no control of his movements. All the targets were hit, and the next set of targets came up. They were again targeted by this strange vision, and Alan shot them all down again. The third set was no exception. after the last targets were hit, things seemed to speed back up again. What seemed like several minutes to Alan, was in reality, only ten seconds.

The judges took a close look at each contestants results. and not long after, the announcer returned to the podium with the results.

"We have an astonishing result in this year's contest!" he shouted, "Not only did our winner hit every single target, but he hit the center of each bull's eye as well!"

The audience was shocked, as well as the contestants. Alan was the most shocked because of everything that happened.

"The winner of this year's target practice competition is...Alan Drake!"

The crowd began to cheer as Alan walked up to the podium to receive his trophy. He was applauded for some time as he walked back down again. He was then approached by Jim, who had a reluctantly happy look on his face.

"Well, you won... just don't let it go to your head. I'll get you next year." he said as he walked away.

"Thanks" Alan replied, and then thought to himself while looking down at his new bracelet, 'Now if only i can figure out how I did that...'


	2. Chapter 2: Freedom

**Chapter 2: Freedom **

Alan sat in his room staring at what looked like a simple bracelet made of a thick rubber. He pondered how crazy it was to think something as ordinary as this could have caused such strange occurances during the fair. He began to feel around it, both on the inside and the out, and he noticed something brush along his finger on the inside of the bracelet. He had a closer look to find an indentation within it. The markings were small, but Alan could read them. He moved his finger away, only to see a grouping of letters and numbers. He quickly grabbed a pen he had aside on his desk and wrote them down. Soon, he had written down "ZGMF-X10A" He stared at these words trying to figure out what they mean, but nothing came to mind.

A knock on the door startled Alan, who was deeply immersed in this mystery. the knocking followed by a shout, "Alan! Quick! Turn on your TV, check the news!" came a older feminine voice.

"What's going on, Mom?" he replied as he wheeled his chair over to his bed, grabbed the remote, and turned it to the 24 hour news channel. His mother had walked away already and did not respond. He watched as a video of several buildings being destroyed and crumbling to the ground aired. A news voice over followed with the video.

_"This is the mayhem happening in Los Angeles as we speak. Right now, buildings are being destroyed, with absolutely no regard for life. There is little news behind the perpetrators of this attack, but we fear the damage is beyond massive. Terrorist activity from the middle-east is suspected, but unlikely due to the lack of weapons of mass destruction. We'll have more on this situation as it develops." _

The news anchor reappeared on screen and began tossing to the weather man, and Alan turned off his TV. He rolled his chair over to his computer desk again, and logged into his internet messenger system. Not long after logging in, Alan was flooded with messages from his chat buddies asking if he had heard of what happened in LA. Alan decided not to respond to them, as he only logged in to get the latest news reports as they happen. He put himself into invisible mode, and waited for more news. His curiosity of the bracelet, however, still engulfed his mind, even with the tragedy going on. He then glanced over at what he had written down. He decided to try entering that information into a search engine online.

He typed ZGMF-X10A into his engine and hit enter. His screen instantly went black, and a green line appeared in the centre of this screen. it began to move as his speakers released a voice.

"_Are you the owner of the bracelet that bears this serial number?"_ the voice asked. Alan was shocked and a little scared of what's happening, but decides to respond. He grabs his mic.

"Yes, it was given to me at a local fair." he responded.

_"Has anything strange happened while wearing it?"_

"Yes, it...it glowed blue, and then when i was in a target practice game, i could see targeting icons with my eyes, and shot 6 bull's eyes in under 3 seconds"

_"Then you are the one. The one who can stop the madness!"_

Alan was more confused than ever.

"What are you talking about?"

_"What you were given was an experiment that was never to see the light of day," _ the garbled and unrecognizable voice started, _"That is one of many bracelets created to be weapons. To turn soldiers into armored warriors of destruction, but there was a flaw. The bracelets were too powerful. One G-soldier was capable of levelling an entire city, so the project was ordered to be shut down, and all those involved silenced. Unfortunately, a top secret organization of the government continued the research and then fell into the wrong hands. The G-Bracelets were distributed as if they were normal bracelets, and given to random civilians. Sooner or later, someone would figure out how to activate their power, and now, someone has."_

"You mean the attack in Los Angeles..." Alan interrupted.

_"Yes. Once a bracelet is worn for the first time, it codes to their DNA. That person is now the only one who can use that specific bracelet. One person can mean the destruction of civilization as we know it."_

"So, how do I fit in to all of this?"

_"We managed to secure a few of the most top secret G-Bracelets, and sent them to people with upstanding records. We need to create a small task force that will keep the world from meeting it's end. You are to be their leader."_

"What? Why me? I don't know a thing about what's going on." Alan said with uncertainty.

_"We will send you all the information you need. We need you to destroy all the bracelets within the world, and then your own."_

Alan began to worry, "Am I going to have to kill anyone?"

the voice paused. _"It may not be necessary, but there is a likelihood of it being inevitible. Most G-Bracelets can only be active for 30 minutes before they need to recharge. Yours and 2 others are powered by a Nuclear reactor, and do not have that disability. It also means that your power output and combat efficiency will be higher. If you can wear out people until their bracelets run out of power, then you can destroy them without taking lives. I leave how you handle that situation to you and your fleet."_

Alan could not believe what he was hearing. This bracelet seemed more important and valuable than he had ever imagined.

"How do i activate my bracelet?" he spoke into the microphone.

_"Speak your name, your unit, and Launch." _the voice answered. _"I recommend you move now, Los Angeles is still under seige. Help those in Need, Freedom!"_

"Freedom?"

_"Your Unit. It is the name of everything you and your fleet will represent, Now go! Time is a factor!" _

The green line faded from the screen and Alan's monitor displayed it's regular windows screen. Alan began to breathe deeply for a moment in nervousness and confusion. He started to think about what he should do. He looked to the wall behind him, where a poster stood tall. It was a poster of his favorite super-hero, and one of the most famous mottos regarding him. The words "With great power, comes great responsibility." began to sing into his mind as he placed the G-bracelet back onto his wrist, and headed downstairs.

As he made it to the bottom, he went for the door leading outside, only to be stopped by his mother.

"Where are you going?" she asked. "It's late and you have school tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know, but I need to go and grab some study notes from Sal for that test tomorrow." he responded quickly.

"All right, but dont stay out too late, now." she said as she went back to watching the television.

Alan quickly grabbed a coat, and left for outside, not knowing what to expect from everything that was just told to him.


	3. Chapter 3: Bullets

**Chapter 3: Flying Bullets**

Alan stopped and caught his breath after running towards the open Baker farm. The open field of the farm was far enough away from the farm house that no one would see him there. He rested for a few minutes and thought about what the voice from his computer kept telling him. The words "Your name, your unit, and launch" flowed through his mind. He knew that this was the key to unlocking the power within his G-Bracelet. He stood up straight, and took one last look around him.

"Well, this is as good a place as any to try this" he said to himself. He slowly raised his hand into the air, not really having any idea of what he should do to activate the bracelet. He began to breathe in a bit heavily due to the nervousness.

"Alan Drake, Freedom!" he shouted.

He waited for a reaction for several seconds, with no response. Nothing was happening. He decided to try again differently.

"Freedom, Alan Drake!" He shouted, and nothing happened once again.

"What the hell?" he said to himself. "Why won't this thing work?"

He began to think again about the words that kept going throug h his head, when he realized that there was something he hadn't tried yet. He raised his arm one more time with a look of hopefullness on his face.

"Here goes." he said with a deep breath. "Alan Drake, Freedom, Launch!" he shouted.

Instantly, his bracelet began to glow and the glow began to become so bright, it engulfed his body. This glow became a flash, and then faded. Alan looked up at his raised arm, only to notice that it was no longer his arm. It was mechanical. He lowered his arm and looked at his body. he was covered in a mechanical armor. HIs arms were white with grey at the hand and fingers. His body was black with a red stripe going across his chestplate. HIs legs were a pure white with black around the feet. As his transformation had completed, a surge of energy entered his mind. He was feeling a rush of information flood into his brain, giving him the knowledge and capabilities of his new armor. It was then that he noticed the large blue mechanical wings on his back. He felt them as if they were an extension of his body. He could move them with his mere thoughts. He also learned from his new knowledge that they are also thrusters designed for high-speed flight. His vision became more computerized, similar to the views he had during the fair shooting gallery, only with more viewpoints. his periferal vision could see everything as if it were a computer screen. The lower left had a radar positioning system, and an arrow in the upper area of his view flashed red in a forward direction, specifying danger in that area. Alan realized that it was referring to the destruction in LA, so he decided there was no time to lose.

He started off by taking a run and then leaping into the air, while spreading his wings and launching his thrusters. Upon the launch of the thrusters, he was pushed into the air uncontrollably. Alans legs shook and he wobbled in midair briefly until he managed to stabilize himself.

"Ok, no more running starts" he said to himself. He maintained control of his flight and began heading towards LA. His speed began to increase as his altitude began to rise. According to his readings, the trip to LA, which would normally take about 2 days by car, was only going to take 5 minutes. Freedom pushed his thrusters to their limit, and the trip was simple.

Freedom finally arrived hovering over what was left of Los Angeles, with the loss of lives, the city could truly now be considered the city of angels. The devastation was intense. Buildings were blown to bits, rubble everywhere, and bodies and body parts were scattered all over the grounds.

"Good god! It's horrible!" he said to himself.

The arrow in Alans view pointed west, and loud machine gun shots were heard over in the distance. Freedom flew into the area, but maintained enough height to avoid being detected easily. He looked down and his view then began to zoom in on the threat. It was another armored suit. This one was red, with a white chestplate, and his left arm was mounted without a hand, but with a large gatling gun. The gun was firing, levelling another building. Freedom could also see people trying to leave that building. He decided it was time to do something about this menace. Freedom reached to his lower back and pulled out a large rifle. This rifle had a white top cover with a black scope, handle, and barrel. Even though it is a rifle, Freedom is capable of weilding it with one hand. He aimed for the Enemy armor's Gatling gun, and his targeting eye returned, and he then fired. a green beam of energy poured out of the rifle, and hit the gun, knocking it off of his arm, exposing another hand. The enemy grabbed his wrist and looked up to see the Freedom swooping down toward him at an alarming speed.

"The hell!" the enemy said as he rolled to the side, towards his gun. The freedom swooped past him and headed back up into the air. The enemy retrieved his gatling gun, and remounted it. He quickly took aim at the speedy Freedom and waited for his next swooping attack. As Freedom swooped around again, he put his rifle away, reached to his hip, and pulled off a cylinder. the end of the cylinder released a powerful green beam of energy, concentrated into a blade. he placed the blade by his chest preparing for a back-handed strike. As he sped down toward the red enemy, the red artillery armor let loose his barrage of gatling bullets. Freedom's alerts went off and he began to spin out to avoid the bulets, then pulled up into the air. The enemy began to shoot rapidly trying to hit the Freedom. The enemy was having no success with hitting this winged warrior, so he lowered his gun, as his chestplate opened up, revealing 2 missiles. He launched them from his chest and they flew towards Freedom in 2 different directions. Freedom's alerts went off again and he managed to evade one missile, while the other managed to sneak up behind him and explode on his back. Alan grunted in slight pain as his armor was punched out of the sky and landed on his back into some of the rubble. Freedom tried to get up only to notice a gatling gun pointed right in his face.

"Who are you?" said the enemy.

"I am the Freedom" Alan responded,

"Why did you attack my superior HeavyArms unit?" he said.

"I was charged with protecting life. You are recklessly killing people, so i came to stop you."

"Well, Hero," HeavyArms said smugly, "Looks like you met your match, or better yet, your superior. Goodbye!" he said as he pulled the trigger and unleashed an army of bullets at Freedom's head. The bullets were, to HeavyArms's surprise, bouncing off the head as Freedom began to get up.

"W-Why aren't you dead?" HeavyArms asked in fear.

"Your 'superior' weapons are out of date" Freedom said. "My armor is equipped with Phase Shift, which protects me from non-beam weapons." Freedom began to hover itself back into the air as his unit's wings began to shift position. From the top wing blades came out two beam weapons which rested on his shoulders. His hip plating then folded out into two more beam weapons. He pulled out his beam rifle and aimed it at HeavyArms. The scared red armor began to run in a cowardly fashion.

"Sorry, This is the end!" Freedom shouted as he unleashed his HiMAT Beam attack. Five beams, 4 red and 1 green fired toward HeavyArms and blasted him right in his running back. He hit the ground and suddenly, in a flash of light, the armor disappeared. Freedom retracted his HiMAT cannons and came back down to the ground next to the whimpering man in a suit.

"Please, Don't hurt me" he begged as he saw the superior winged warrior looking down on him.

"I have no desire to take lives like you." Freedom said, "Just hand over your bracelet and i will not harm you."

With a shaky hand, the man agreed and pulled his bracelet off and threw it to the ground. Freedom then stepped on it, crushing it to pieces. He then picked up the man and took off in the air.

"Hey! you said you weren't going to hurt me!" he said while screaming in the air.

"I'm not," Freedom replied. "But im taking you to the authorities. You may not be harmed, but you will be brought to justice."

It wasn't long before they reached Washington, DC.. Freedom landed at the FBI Headquarters with the man, and an army of agents arrived to see a man in a suit.

"This is the man responsible for the destruction of Los Angeles" Freedom shouted, "He is no longer a threat and may be detained without hesitation."

Before the FBI agents could ask questions, the Freedom took off at top speed and flew away. The agents then detained the man and took him in for questioning.

While flying towards home, alan began thinking to himself. He didnt truly understand why he agreed to be a part of this war, but he felt glad that he did. Not only did he stop a madman, but he managed to save what few lives he could. He touched down again at the Baker farm, and then willed for his armor to return to the G-Bracelet. He then ran back home with a different look on his face. his usual demeanor was replaced with such a proud look to himself. He knew that this new power was going to be something incredible in the battles to come.


	4. Chapter 4: Training

**Chapter 4: Training**

_"tick. tock. tick. tock."_

The sound kept going through Alan's head. Time was almost up, there was nothing but anticipation and anxiety following the sounds. Once the clock reached its point, it would all be over. He sat in his chair, with his legs bouncing up and down, as he watched the clock slowly tick away until it finally reached its ending position. A loud ringing sound now surrounded the classroom.

"Well, that's it for the year, class." said the teacher, "I guess I'll be seeing you all at Commencement. Have a good summer."

The rest of the students began to exit the hallway, while Alan waited for everyone to leave, so that he could rush out ecstaticly. He then stood up, swung his book bag over his shoulder, and got ready to take off. He was then suddenly stopped by his teacher.

"Alan, before you go, I was wondering why I didn't get your RSVP to the grad ceremony."

Alan looked at him, wanting to tell him what's going on with his new responsibility, but resisted telling the truth.

"I got a job overseas, actually, and they need me to start next week. I've been wanting to get home all day so I can finish my packing."

"What will you be doing?" The teacher asked.

"I'm working for a charity organization. They want me to do stuff that will help the less fortunate."

"I see. Well, do keep in touch." The teacher said as he offered Alan a hand to shake. Alan accepted the shake, and nodded in appreciation, then left the room in a big hurry.

Upon arriving home from school, Alan dropped his bag off at the door. He ran upstairs and pushed his closet door open, revealing a large camping style travel pack. He pulled it out and pulled it on his back, then walked over to his desk where he picked up a letter with "Mom" written on it. He went downstairs, and placed it on the kitchen table.

"Sorry mom, This was the best way I could tell you about this." he said, as he took one last look around the house. he then departed, and then walked over towards the Baker farm.

The walk was rather simple for Alan this time. The anticipation that flowed into him during his first venture had subsided. As he went through the past conflict in his mind, he wondered what he would be expecting in the coming battle. There was no idea about how many G-Bracelets existed, nor did he know why they were here, or who is making them. The only thing he knew, was that this was the most excitement he has had in a long time. He realized this notion during the carnival a few weeks ago. He felt like he was in a rut, and the instant his computer spoke to him of the bracelet, he felt a new feeling of life within him.

As these thoughts rushed through him, he also began to think about the fight with the Heavyarms. Because of the phase shift armor, that fight should have been much easier, in his mind. The first use of the Freedom was his reason for fighting so sloppily. Which is why his leaving to train was the biggest priority for him.

Alan arrived at the still quiet Baker farm. As he approached the middle of the field, keeping out of view of passers by, he dropped his bag, and prepared for the beginning of a new life.

"Alan Drake! Freedom, Launching!" he shouted with excitement, as the glow of the armor surrounded his body once again. it faded and the Freedom was alive once again. Alan picked up his bag, and leapt into the air as his blue wings thrusted him into the air once more.

"Freedom," Alan spoke into his armor. "Display a map of the world, and show me possible deserted locations for training excercises"

Just then, Alan's eyes flashed with a transparent view of the world. and several islands started to flash with a red light.

"Display my location and current direction" he then said. as the computer created a green light moving towards an island southeast of his position. He veered toward that island as it was the closest.

Freedom's arrival to the island was swift, due to its excellent speed. Alan's bag was set down by a nearby tree, and Freedom moved into an open area.

"Time to start. Begin training mode: Target Practice" he said.

Freedom reached to its back and pulled out his beam rifle. It had a black handle in back with a trigger, and in front for more precise targeting. The top was white with a blue stripe outlining it, and beared a targeting light with a built in scope on the top. His eyes then began to see flashing targets and he started targeting them with his sight, and firing his rifle. There was no beam from the rifle, as it was only a training exercise, however, he was able to tell when a target was hit or not. His shooting was almost flawless, until the targets began to move. Alan had to predict their movements in order to hit the marks. Hitting the moving targets became more troublesome for Alan. Every time he would get used to the movements, they became faster and more complex.

His target practice continued for hours until eventually, it was nightfall. By the time Alan realized that the sky was dark, he realized he had been going for such a long time. He stopped his training for the night, and de-activated the Freedom. The armor disappeared as its energy returned to his G-Bracelet. Alan walked over to the tree where his bag was left, and pulled out some fruit. He took a bite of it and just looked out at the stars.

He eventually fell asleep, with preparations for his next day of training in mind.

A bright light filled Alan's face as morning rose. He awoke and looked at the bright light that was coming from a window. He rose suddenly and looked around. He was surrounded by walls, one of which were bars. A man was outside the bars, dressed in a military uniform, but not one he was used to seeing. It was a bright red, wth a gold collar.

"So, you're finally awake." he said. "Now how did you get on this island?"


	5. Chapter 5: Captive

**Chapter 5: Captive**

"Answer me!" said the soldier, as Alan got closer to the bars to get a better look at him. He had a flowing blond hair and was standing at a ready position.

Alan thought of the first answer he could. "I... I went skydiving yesterday, and my plane left me behind in the water. I managed to swim to this island."

"You expect me to believe that when we found you with a duffel bag?" he said angrily, "Quit toying with me, boy!"

"Sir! his arm!" said a soldier next to him. the Commander looked and saw Alan's bracelet.

"Well now, that bracelet explains everything." he said.

Alan was shocked that he seemed to now about the G-Bracelet. "What about it? I won it at a carnival last month."

"Where you got it doesnt matter. What matters is that you're not the only one with such a treasure." The commander said as he exposes his arm, revealing a bracelet of his own. "And that makes you one of us. Release him!"

The guards released Alan from the cell and he was escorted with the commander. they walked down a hallway of what seemed like a military installation. Alan got closer to him to ask a question. "What do you mean 'one of you'?"

"We are a small faction of bracelet owners, each with our own machine. We plan to work our way into becoming our own militia. We want to recruit and train others for our gathering force."

"And what do you plan to do with this force?" Alan inquired.

"We intend to uphold law and justice. We have been given a great gift, so we should use it to help save the world."

Alan liked what he was hearing. It seemed, to him, that he had found the people that were going to help him on his mission.

"By the way," the commander asked. "I didn't catch your name."

Alan hesitated for a moment. "I haven't had a name for a long time. I was a drifter when I found my bracelet. If you have to call me anything, call me Freedom."

"Freedom?" the commander responded surprisingly, "the machine that defeated the HeavyArms?"

"Yeah, that was me. How did you know about that?"

"Our scanners detected your fight and monitored it. It was impressive, to say the least. My name is Commander Lars Keough. It's a pleasure to meet a soldier with talents such as yours."

Alan felt a little embarassed. "Well, I'd call it beginner's luck, really."

"I'd like to test that luck, if you don't mind." Lars proposed. "Come spar with me. I'd like to gauge your skill level."

"Sure, i guess so." Alan agreed reluctantly, as Lars's eyes began to light up with excitement. Truly, this was the warrior's spirit Alan had heard so much about from his grandfather, who fought countless engagements in the second World War.

"Then it's settled. In one hour, we will begin our contest." Lars declares as he turns to his soldiers. "Men, escort him to the mess hall. Make sure he is well fed."

"Yes, sir!" they responded, as Lars walked away to prepare for his battle.

The guards escorted Alan to the mess hall without any force. Alan felt like food wouldn't be that bad of an idea. He grabbed himself some meat, and then splashed some mashed potatoes onto his plate, and then found a seat. He did not know any of these people, so he chose to sit alone. The guards gave him his freedom and he began to eat away.

As he was enjoying his surprisingly well-prepared meal. Alan's Civilian scanners began detecting multiple bracelets around him, which had been recently activated.

'Lars wasnt kidding when he said he had recruited a lot of soldiers.' Alan thought to himself.

Not long into eating, his scanner detected one of the bracelet signals moving right towards him. He glanced over to see a girl with short red hair with some slight curls. Quite attractive in Alan's eyes. She stops by his table with a nice smile.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked.

Alan, not realizing he was still chewing some food, attempted to speak, but once realizing his food problem, he simply nodded in agreement.

"Melissa Rogers, Blitz Gundam." she said, introducing herself.

Alan chewed up his remaining food. "Freedom" he responded. Just after hearing the name of her mobile suit, a flash flew into his vision, as a semi transparent wave of information about the Blitz's schematics and arsenal were displayed, including its primary tactical advantage, the Mirage Colloid, allowing the unit to cloak itself from others. Alan kept reading it, while continuing his conversation.

"No name?" she asked.

"No need for one."

"You don't have to hide things from us. Just the Commander." she said to him, peaking his intrigue."

"What do you mean?"

Melissa looked around to make sure no one was listening. "The Commander is a huge war nut, who thinks that the world needs to be cleansed, but first he needs an army. He's recuiting anyone with a G-Bracelet for his cause, and those that don't join him are killed. This 'sparring' match you two are about to have is going to be a test of your strength. If he thinks you aren't worthy, he will kill you."

Alan listened to it and thought back to the look of fierceness in Lars's eyes when he spoke of combat, and realized it was more than just warrior's spirit. It was closer to blood lust.

"Regardless of his intentions, I'm no pushover." Alan mentioned, "He can't destroy my machine that easily."

"I know, which is why I need a favor of you. We need a favor of you." She said, starting to sound desperate. "Please stop him, and find a way to let us be free."

" How many of you are there?" he asked.

"40 of us, all of which are mass production model suits, except for myself and the Commander. Please, help us. Most of us have been runaways and outcasts, having to fend for ourselves. But, finally, we have a place we can call home. Please, help us make it a peaceful one."

Alan knew this was the right thing to do. "I'll do it, but before I do, I'll need something from all of you."

"What is it?" she asked.

"When this is over, ALL of you must surrender your bracelets. That is the only way you people will ever be free from this captivity. I have no interest in taking lives, just ending the madness of these bracelets."

"I will confer with the others, but there shouldn't be a problem." she said.

"All right. I will make sure that he is stopped in this fight." Alan said as he finished his food.

"Thank you." she said to him, as the two guards who escorted him approached him.

"Freedom, it is time to enter the arena."

"Let's go then." Alan said, as he walked away, making one last look at the people he intends to save.

The arena was massively built for outdoor combat, encasing the majority of the island base. Alan found it to be remarkable.As he walked through the hallway toward the open space, Melissa managed to catch up to him. She stopped him long enough to say one thing.

"We all agree."

Alan nodded, realizing she meant that everyone will then give up their bracelets after this fight. He arrived at one end of the arena, as the other end has Lars waiting for him.

"All right. Are you ready, Freedom?" he shouted from the distance.

"Anytime you're ready!" he responded.

"The rules are simple. When the bell sounds, we suit up, and charge at eachother. Then the fight will continue until one of us subdues the other."

"Sounds like fun."

Alan and Lars waited for the bell, while Alan planned his battle strategy. He remembered he only had time to train his ranged combat, leaving his beam saber skills rather weak. He decided to hit him hard and fast.

The bell sounded and both Alan and Lars ran at eachother, shouting their activation commands.

"Alan Drake, Freedom, Launching!"

"Lars Keough, Shenlong, Launching!"

Both of them flashed as their armor appeared, and their speed increased exponentially. They were still playing chicken with eachother, while Freedom flashed up the Shenlong's stats to Alan's view. The Shenlong was mainly white, with blue laxing some of its areas, with a red Chestplate. It was carrying a staff on its back, and a small round yellow shield mounted on its left arm.

The two machines finally reached a close enough range. Shenlong pulled its staff off of its back, and activated the beam glaive, charging at him with a quick thrust. Freedom decided to bluff his way out of it by continuing his charge until they were almost face to face. As Lars lunged his glaive toward Alan, Freedom dove into the air, confusing Shenlong's attack pattern. Freedom reached to its back, and pulled out its beam rifle, preparing to take a shot. Shenlong reacted quickly by activating another weapon. Its right arm created what looked like a dragon's head, and then fired toward Freedom like a snake. It took Alan by surprise and grabbed onto his leg, pulling him back down with a loud smack. Shenlong moved overtop of him, and stepped on his chest to keep him down.

"This is the end for you Freedom. I know all about your mutiny attempt, and those who were involved will also be punished. Their blood, along with your own, will be on your hands." He said as he raised his glaive to cut off Freedom's head.

"You wish!" Said a voice in the distance, as a black figure approached, appearing out of, what seemed to be, nowhere. it was a Gundam unit , primarily black, with a sleek body style. It carried a silver elongated metal pole, and was charging at Altron with it. Freedom quickly identified this unit as the Blitz. It was Melissa, trying to help out. Altron dodged the charge, giving Freedom the mobility to bring its leg upward and kick him in the back. Altron tumbled over Freedom, as Freedom quickly drew his beam saber, and spiraled around on his way up, slashing the Dragon Fang off of Altron's arm, but leaving the arm itself in tact. Freedom then took to the sky and extended its wings, folding out its HiMAT cannons from his wings and hips.

"Try catching me from the air now!" Alan said to him.

"Gladly!" he responded confidently. "Lars Keough, Altron, Upgrade!" he shouted as the Shenlong's body began to transform in a flash of bright light. The light faded and now a new mobile suit appeared. The stat's came up in Alan's view, and he saw that the Altron now has a dragon fang equipped on each arm, or more to say they WERE each arm. He fired them both at Freedom, trying to bring him down again. Freedom retracted its HiMAT blasters and began Evasive action. Freedom's movements were eratic, making it easier to evade. Learning from his previous hit with the fang, He devised his own way of countermeasures. He evaded them, and attempted shooting them while they aimed at him, but they were moving even more eratically. Freedom took a different approach, as it put away its rifle and pulled out both its beam sabers from it's sides. he snapped them together to create a double edged beam saber. He began to spin it around as quickly as possible, and then hurled it towards Altron. Lars had no choice but to defend himself from the coming attack. He recalled the Dragon fangs and then fired at the projectile with his beam rifle, causing it to hit the ground. He looked back up to find the freedom was gone. Suddenly, his sensor detected something behind him. It was Freedom, with his beam rifle pointed directly at Altron's head.

"Go ahead," Lars said. "Kill me!"

"I got a better idea." Alan said as he grabbed Altrons wrist and crushed it, destroying the bracelet. Altron disappeared, leaving nothing but a broken man. Freedom reverted back to its bracelet form, and Alan stood above Lars who was kneeling in agony. The guards who were once loyal to Lars took him away. While being taken away, Blitz walked towards Alan, and reverted back to the bracelet, leaving only Melissa.

"I guess I should say thanks for saving me." Alan said, somewhat embarassed.

Melissa laughed and smiled at him. "You just did the same for all of us, so let's just call us even."

Alan smiled to that, as the spectators of the big fight cheered endlessly to the victory they received. For once, the freedom of being away from it all seemed like such a good thing, and the satisfaction of knowing what Alan and his Freedom can do for others made him feel like this whole mission became more worthwhile.

That night was a night of celebration for the inhabitants of the island base. the people were dancing and singing to a joyous note, their own freedom. A pile of bracelets was placed in the center of the arena, as Melissa poured Gasoline all over them. Alan watched the celebration, as Melissa walked up to him.

"We can't thank you enough." she said.

"It's what needed to be done." Alan replied, "Are you guys going to be okay living here though?"

"They decided it was best. Most of these people were runaways or homeless. So it's better they live where they are accepted."

Alan was curious. "What do you mean, 'they'?"

"I want to go with you." she said. "Fight with you for a peaceful resolution to this war. I could be a good asset to you're cause."

"I appreciate the idea, but now is not the time for me to have a partner. But if you feel strongly for the cause, then fight the good fight on your own. If I ever need help, I'll know someone who owes me a favor.

Melissa laughed for a moment."I thought we were even."

The people of the island looked at Alan.

"I think they want you to say something." Melissa told him.

"umm, okay," Alan said as he looked at them. Melissa then handed him a torch.

"Now comes a new age for you! You now have a purpose to continue living. That purpose is for eachother. You are all now a family, and even though you were brought together under an unfortunate star, you can remain together in peace and harmony!"

Alan placed the torch over the bracelets and the gasoline ignited, destroying every last one. The crowd cheered with happiness.

"It's time for me to go now." Alan said to Melissa.

"Okay, do keep in touch though." she said.

"I will. Alan Drake! Freedom, Launching!" he shouted as the Freedom appeared once more and flew over the island. knowing that this was the next step to something big. While travelling, Alan couldn't stop thinking about how Lars's Shenlong was able to upgrade the way it did. He decided to investigate while travelling.

"Freedom. Give me any information you have about the Mobile Suit Upgrade Ability."

Just then, a Flash of information flew into Alan's eyes, which stated that a Mobile suit with the ability to upgrade, can do so with the right amount of skill, and symbiosis between bracelet and wearer. However, when done, it taxes a great deal of energy, limiting an Upgraded suit's power/time limit to ten minutes or less.

Alan memorized this information quickly, thinking it could serve useful in future battles. He proceeded to a different island, where he may continue some of his training.


	6. Chapter 6: Protector

**Chapter 6: Protector**

A wave of green flashes flowed within an open island area, as Freedom's short-range combat training continued. After one week's worth of rigorous training with his ranged combat training, Alan thought that he should spare no time in training with his beam sabers. His form, and skill increased with each passing hour, until he felt he was truly ready for anything.

Five more days passed of melee training, and Alan decided it was time to take a break. He powered down, and walked to a balmy beach area, where he set up camp. He had been eating the bananas and oranges that had been growing on the island's trees, in order to preserve time going back to a city and buying food. He relaxed a little, while eating a banana, and decide to take a nice swim in the water to cool off after a hard day of training.

After returning from the water, Alan grabbed a towel from his duffel bag, and dried himself off. Not long after, did his Civilian Sensors detect motion in the air, not far from him. According to the sensors, Four mobile suits were moving at high speeds. Just then, a new sensation came from Alan's bracelet. It was a communication. a female voice started coming out of Alan's bracelet.

_"Please! If anyone is out there! Please, Help me! I'm being chased by three mobile suits, and I'm badly damaged, and almost out of power. If there is anyone in the area that can help, Please come quickly!"_

"Three against one!" Alan said angrily, "Where's the honor in that?"

Alan stood up, with full intent on helping her. "Alan Drake, Freedom, Launching!" he shouted, with a fire in his eyes unlike his previous battles. His other battles were, for the most part, one on one, and had at least some sense of honor. To him, the concept of a gang-beating was wrong, and should be punished. His armor fully materialized and Freedom erupted off the island at top speed, causing the sand to blow everywhere.

It didn't take Freedom long to locate the chasing party. there were two mobile suits, one riding the other. the rider was a blue mobile suit, which seemed well armed with beam cannons, both on the shoulders and on his arm. The other was a black and red armor, which seemed to look more like a bird. The third pursuer looked more like a green octopus holding a scythe. Freedom's computers identified the blue mobile suit as the Calamity, the bird as Raider, and the Octopus as Forbidden. The damaged mobile suit being chased was white and blue, with a large black and red jetpack on it's back. Freedom indentified this suit as the Strike. It was trying to maintain evasive action, but found it difficult with its power so low. Freedom decided it was time to intervene.

The three pursuers had not noticed that the Freedom was nearby, so Alan took that to his advantage. He came in from below, and armed his HiMat cannons, firing a wedge between pursuers and pursued. the three suits pulled back to avoid getting hit, as the Strike stopped and turned around. Freedom retracted its cannons and allowed his wings to span in an intimidating fashion, as he rose to meet them at eyes level.

"Now people," Freedom spoke, "Don't you think three on one is a bit overkill?"

Calamity spoke, "Who the hell are you to interfere with what we're doing?"

Freedom stared blankly for a moment. "That's not your concern." He said as he looked back at the damaged Strike. He began feeding the Strike the coordinates of Alan's island camp.

"You!" he said, "Go to those coordinates, start your repairs, and don't go anywhere until I get back. Understand?"

Strike looked at him for a second. "Y-Yes, I understand. Thank you so much!"

"Don't thank me yet." Freedom responded. "We still have to live through this first."

Forbidden charged at him blindly, "The hell you'll survive. No one survives the Triple Threat!"

Freedom saw the charge from behind on his scanner, and flew over it rather quickly. he drew his beam rifle and started blasting. His aim was flawless, except that Forbidden was equipped with a special armor called Transphase armor, which allows typical beams to reflect off of him.

"Guess I'll try the direct aproach, then!" Freedom exclaimed as he charged toward Forbidden, putting away his rifle, and pulling out a beam saber. He made a lunge at Forbidden, which was then stopped by, what appeared to be, a spiked ball which rammed Freedom in the side, denting his armor. Freedom shifted his attention to his right, where he saw, what once was the black bird Raider mobile suit, now transformed into a warrior mode. Freedom then charged at Raider with a full thrust of his saber, only to have Raider duck, with Calamity right behind.

"Did you forget about me, boy?" Calamity said as he fired four blasts at Freedom. One from each shoulder cannon, one from his arm mounted blaster, and one from his blast cannon. Unexpectedly, Freedom took the full brunt of the blast, severely damaging his front side. Freedom grabbed his chestplate as he was now surrounded by three mobile suits. At first, he thought they were just a group of eratic lunatics, but now he realized that they were a perfect combination for eachother. They began each taking turns in the circle attacking. Forbidden lunged at Freedom with his scythe. Freedom managed to barely dodge a mortal wound, and let his armor take most of the damage.

Raider then followed with blasts and his mace projectile, as Calamity distracted him long enough to take the hits. The Freedom had never been damaged like this before. The strain was too much for Alan to take. Pound for pound, Freedom was nearing critical levels. A large warning appeared in front of Alan's eyes, warning him that a few more hits could rupture his nuclear power cells and cause a nuclear explosion. The thought of loss, and what the world would become if no one stood up to people like these three caused Alan to snap. A moment of clarity passed before him, a feeling he recognized as the bond between himself and Freedom, but to a strength he had not felt before. He knew that this was his moment to act.

Alan stood up straigh, and with a staggered voice, activated a new command. "Alan Drake... Freedom, Upgrade!"

A flash of light surrounded him, and a newly powered, and repaired mobile suit appeared before the three enemies. what arose was the Strike Freedom, the newest form of Freedom, with a larger wingspan, and a cannon coming out of his chest. He looked at his enemies with a sense of calm and clarity. It was as if he was barely in control. Without motion, four pieces of his wings separated from his body, and rocketed at an incredibly high speed toward the pursuers, keeping in an evasive, but offensive pattern. they fired beams all around. The speed of the assaults were too much for Calamity and Raider, and they were damaged quickly and decisively, only disarming their weapon systems, but since the beams were still bouncing off of Forbidden, Strike Freedom took a newer course of action. The wings were called back, and he then set his wings up for HiMAT assault blast. The difference between this blast and the old blast, was that his wing pieces, which he learned from his system were called Dragoon Units, surrounded him, and the cannon on his chest fired as well. He concentrated the beams together so they would combine, and fired a brilliant flast of red, yellow, and green forced it's way to Forbidden, piercing his Transphase armor, and crippling it.

The fighting was at a standstill, as, for some reason, Strike freedom reverted back to freedom, just after the blast. Both sides were now damaged, and no one could continue. Freedom decided to stay as confident as possible.

"Any time you three need another ass-whooping, come find me!" He said as he flew away, back toward the island.

"This isn't Over!" Calamity shouted, "Once we're fixed up, We'll come for you, AND that little Bitch!"

The three crippled suits flew away, and Freedom decided to keep track of their whereabouts. He had a feeling they would make good on their promise to come back right away. He headed back to the island, hoping to get some answers.

Upon his arrival, Freedom found a young girl, roughly his age, with brown hair down to her shoulders, medium build, but still relatively attractive sitting on a towel. She looks up to see the tattered remains of what was, in her mind, a godsend. Freedom touched down, and reverted back to its bracelet for repairs. The girl rushed over to him.

"My god, are you all right?" she asked frantically.

"That's not important right now." Alan replied, " You got a name?"

"I'm Sandra," she told him, "Sandra Robins."

"I'm Drake." Alan replied, "How long till you're back at full strengh?"

Sandra checked and responded, "at least fifteen hours."

"Great!" he said sarcastically, "I got at least twenty four."

Alan started gathering his things. "Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?" Sandra asked curiously.

"Into the jungle area. It'll be easier to hide out, in case those assholes come back."

"Right, good idea." She agreed as she helped him get his things as they head into the jungle.


	7. Chapter 7: Survival

**Chapter 7: Survival**

A brisk warm fire illuminated the darkness of night surrounding Alan and Sandra. They had successfully set up camp in the most dense part of the island jungle. Only eight hours had passed since the repairs on the Freedom and Strike began, and both wearers were very nervous. Neither one spoke much to one another, until finally, Sandra broke the ice.

"So, how did you get your bracelet?" she asked.

"Is that really the best topic of conversation right now?" he responded, "Maybe we should start with why those three lunatics were after you in the first place."

"I'd...rather not say," she said, seeming ashamed.

"I think I deserve an explanation as to why my Freedom took such heavy damage. What did they want from you?"

"What every other guy in this world wants from me! What do you think?" She blurted out.

"So this was all about sex?"

"No..." she said, "That's just how it started."

Alan tried to sound calm and supportive, "I'm... sorry. Please, tell me what happened."

"Well, I was at this party a few months ago. Just some college house party. Mostly frat boys and high school seniors trying to bribe their way into the frat after graduation. I was supposed to meet some of my girlfriends there, but none of them showed up. That's when I met Brett. We talked for a bit, and we kinda hit it off. He seemed like a perfectly nice guy..."

"They always do..." Alan interrupted.

"We had a bit too much to drink, and he invited me up to one of the rooms. He must have thought I was more drunk than I was, because when I got up there, there were two other guys there. His friends, Max and M.J.. They were going to pretty much gangbang me, but I fought them. I managed to knock Brett in the face, Sack M.J., and get away from Max, and made it out of the house. I didn't have a lot of places to run to, and eventually, they chased me to a back alley in the bad part of town. It was then that they noticed my bracelet. I managed to activate mine in just enough time to escape, and they've been chasing me ever since."

"They've been chasing you for this long? There must be more to it than that."

"I'm getting to that. I was hiding out in Kandahar at one point, and Max found me alone. He noticed a necklace I was wearing. It was given to me with my bracelet. The man who gave it to me said it would bring good fortune."

Alan was intrigued by this necklace. "May I see it?"

Sandra agreed, and removed it from her neck, showing a small strip of metal. It was flexible and well bent. Alan scanned it with some of the energy he had restored from Freedom.

"Should you be doing that with your power so low?" Sandra asked, concerned.

"Power isn't really an issue for my mobile suit, I just need it repaired. Besides, we need to know what's so special about this thing.

The scan finished, and the news surprised Alan. "Now I see why this is so important."

"What? What is it?" Sandra asked.

"It's a fragment of a G-Bracelet." Alan responded, "But this isn't for a mobile suit. It's for a Battleship."

"What?" Sandra said shocked.

"Yes, It's giving off a feint energy signature, which means it's incomplete. They must want to collect all the fragments, and have a Battleship to do whatever they want."

"It would explain a lot." Sandra said. "How many fragments do you think there are?"

"Judging from the size of this piece, I'd say six in total."

"How many do you think they have?" Sandra asked.

"One each" Alan said. "Until the bracelet is complete, they won't let just one have it."

"That makes sense."

The conversation ended there, as an awkward silence filled the air. the sound trees blowing in the wind, and grasshoppers filled the campground. Sandra again broke the ice once more.

"So, you never did answer my question." She said. "Why are you doing all of this?"

Alan thought for a minute, and realized he had never really asked that question to himself before. He tried to come up with an answer.

"To be honest, I don't really know why I'm doing this. I just kinda am."

Sandra glared at him with a look of dissatisfaction, "That's not very convincing."

"I know, but..." he paused, "But it's true. I was just given this bracelet out of the blue, and then was given some mission to help the world. I guess, in my mind, it seemed like something to do."

"I don't understand." She said, trying to learn more.

"Well, I just turned eightteen, and I'm at that whole 'What do I do with my life?' point. I never really knew what I wanted to do, which gave my future little purpose. I guess this whole mission has given me that future."

"I see." Sandra replied with a bit more clarity. She then began to yawn.

"You go get some sleep. I'll stay up and keep watch. Those freaks will be back soon."

"Okay," she said, somewhat uneasy about the forecoming future. "good night, Drake"

"Good night." he said as he kept a close watch on her and her surroundings. He looked at his bracelet, and began thinking to himself.

'I almost died yesterday because I thought I was a one man army. I may be good, but I know now that I can't do this alone.'

It was that thought that made him activate the communication setting on his bracelet. He narrowed the range so it would only reach one bracelet.

"Calling Gundam Blitz! Blitz, this is Freedom. Please respond."

A familiar voice came out of Alan's bracelet shortly after.

_"Blitz here. Freedom, good to hear your voice again."_

"Likewise. Listen, can you get a fix on my location right now?"

_"Yes I can. I'm in mid flight right now, I could be at your location in about 6 hours."_

"Good, because I need some help. I've been wrecked, and there are three psycho mobile suits after me and a new comrade."

"_You got wrecked? I don't believe it!"_

"Believe it. Anyway, the sooner you can get here, the better"

"_Right! I'm on my way! Blitz out!"_

The voice disappeared, and Alan went back to his guarding of Sandra, anxiously and fearfully dreading the coming sunrise.


	8. Chapter 8: Unity

**Chapter 8: Unity **

As dawn began to bring the light of the sun to the coming day, a shadow of greif and despair seemed to come with it. Alan's guard stayed ever vigilant, in fear of the coming attack. Time had passed long enough for Sandra's Strike unit to be fully restored, leaving eight more before the Freedom would be repaired.

Alan's scanners detected one mobile suit on approach to the island, as an incoming communication activated on his bracelet.

"Blitz to Freedom! I'm making my final approach to the island. Please respond." 

Alan brought his bracelet up to speaking range, "This is Freedom, Roger that. However, we need to plan a battle strategy. Keep yourself hidden as long as you can, but keep your suit inactive. When the fighting starts, I want you to suit up, and keep your Mirage Colloid active until I give the signal. Keep close, and maintain an open comm channel. Understood?"

"Copy, Freedom. Taking a hiding place two hundred meters north of your position. Blitz out."

The communication broke off as Sandra began to wake.

"Ungh," she grogged, "Who were you talking to?"

"Reinforcements." He responded. "I'm still not 100, and We could use all the help we can get." 

Sandra stood up and walked closer to him. "Good plan. So, any sign of the idiots yet?"

"My scanners can see where they are, but they haven't made their move yet. I did manage to hurt them pretty badly, so in the end, it's all a matter of who repairs their whole team first."

"And our strongest link is the only one still broken." She pointed out. 

"At this point, it's not about strength anymore." Alan said. "It's more about wits. We need to outsmart these guys, and beat them at their own game."

Sandra started to worry, "You have any ideas? I've been chased by these guys for months and haven't had a chance."

"That's because they specialize in stalking, and gang mentality. They will swarm and destroy. We need to fight them on their level. only three on three. I have a comrade waiting in the wings for a surprise attack, and there are a few other things I have in mind." 

Sandra thought this could work, but then realized something. "We may need to fight somewhere else though. My Strike isn't good in this kind of atmosphere. I'm more for aerial combat." 

"That's fine," Alan said. "Just use your Launcher pack."

"My what?" she asked confused.

"You don't know about your other Striker Packs?"

"What are you talking about?"

Alan then used his scanners and brought up the schematics for Sandra's Strike. "Your unit has three equipment packs, called Striker Packs. The three consist of Aile, Launcher, and Sword. Aile is the one you were using. Launcher is a ground assault pack, and sword is for close range melee. If you use the Launcher Pack, All should go according to plan. How could you not know all of this?"

"I never had time to learn about any of my combat skills or abilities. The first time I ran, was the first time I activated the Strike. I never really wanted to use it before that. "

"Well, when you activate Strike, this time call it Launcher Strike. It should bring out the Launcher pack, and that's how we're going to win."

"How do you plan to do that?" she asked.

"Simple, you're going to fire at me." Alan said.

Sandra became more and more confused. "What? How will that help?"

"You just have to trust me on this. Just when they get here, always have me on target lock, and when I say so, fire. I'll have taken care of the rest."

Alans scanners then detected the three suits moving out, heading in this direction.

"Time's up. They're coming." Alan warned Sandra and Melissa, who was still keeping an open comm signal. Alan raised his bracelet to speak to Melissa. "Blitz, I want you to sneak up on the Forbidden. Typical beam weapons arent good against it, so I need to rely on your projectiles and camoflage techniques. Forbidden is the green and white suit with a beam scythe. Strike. do exactly what I told you. Do not take your target lock off of me, and fire whenever I signal you. I'll be the stalling tactic."

Sandra spoke up. "But you're not fully fixed up yet."

Alan smiled confidently, "Then I'll just have to be too quick. Plus, I'm relying on my partners to help me."

Alan nodded to Sandra in acceptance, as Sandra nodded back. Alan then stood tall, taking his position as leader.

"All Right, team! Let's do this! Alan Drake, Freedom, Launching!"

"Sandra Robins, Launcher Strike, Launching!"

_"Melissa Rogers, Blitz, Launching!"_

The flashes of light ensued as the mobile suit team completed taking form. Strike looked like a completely new machine, now that it was repaired, and as expected, was equipped with new equipment. A green shoulder attatchment was present on its right arm, which contained a gatling gun, and the right side contained a beam cannon, strapped to its back, which was longer than the suit itself.

Freedom's repairs were still incomplete. Its arms and legs were still gashed and open, but its chest and wings were at full capacity. Alan planned this during repair so his nuclear core would be protected, and he could get the best aerial mobility possible.

In the distance, Blitz activated its Mirage Colloid and disappeared into the heart of the jungle, slowly making its way to the upcoming battlefield.

"This is it guys." Freedom said. "They're here. I'll go greet them. Remember, Strike. Never take your target lock off of me."

"Got it!" she said, "Let's kick their asses!"

Freedom took off in a burst of energy, and Strike pulled its Launcher cannon from its back, and took aim at Freedom.

Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider were hovering over the jungle area, as Freedom rose through the trees to greet them.

"Hi boys! Miss me?" Freedom said in a sarcastic humor.

"Listen," Raider began, "If you give us the girl, we wont blow you to high Hell."

"Sorry, she's under my protection. You'll have to go through me first."

Freedom took ground just below the three. and extended his arms sideways, attempting to create a blockade.

Forbidden looked down at him, and noticed all the damage to Freedom's arms and legs. "Do you really think you can beat us in your condition?"

Freedom smirked, "No, but she might."

Instantly, after his comment, did the Blitz appear above the Forbidden, driving one of its metal stakes through the green dome head protector, then using its feet to push itself off of him, as the stake exploded, destroying most of the head protector, and propelling Forbidden right into the ground. Calamity and Raider looked back. This was Freedom's Chance.

"Strike, NOW!" he shouted, as Strike, without hesitating, fired the cannon. The blast was tremendous, with a large kickback from the recoil, which pushed Strikes feet into the ground it was standing on. Freedom flew away at top speed to avoid the blast at the last instant. By the time Calamity looked back at Freedom, all he saw was the coming blast that destroyed his chest plate, sending him into the ground too. Raider was confused. Everything was happening so fast, that by the time he could react. He had Freedom's Beam rifle in his fase, and Blitz's metal stake pointed at the back of his head.

"Leave now, never bother us again, and we'll let you go." Freedom said intimidatingly.

Raider agreed, transformed into his bird mode, and swooped down to grab Forbidden with his talons, as Calamity managed to take off, but could only fly very slowly.

Freedom and Blitz returned to the ground, just in time to see Strike pulling itself out of the ground. Everyone then powered down, and Alan looked at the two with a proud look.

"Well done, guys." He said, "You both did everything as planned, and we showed them a thing or two."

"Damn right!" Melissa said, as she looked at Sandra, "By the way, I'm Melissa Rogers."

Melissa extended a hand, as Sandra extended hers for a handshake, "Sandra Robins."

Sandra then looked at Alan. "Alan, you let them go. Why? What about the other fragments?"

"They didn't have any." he replied. "I scanned them during the standoff. there were no traces of the signature your fragment gave off. They must have heard about it from somewhere and wanted it."

"So how do we find them?" Sandra asked.

"My scanners are a bit better than the average mobile suit's, so it would seem." Alan said. "I can pick them up all over the world. We can find them in no time.

Sandra sighed in relief, "That takes a load off my mind. So where's the closest one?"

Alan scans and his eyes come into view of a world map with six blue blips. "The closest one is..." He stopped.

"Where?" Sandra asked anxiously.

"It's in my hometown." he said, surprised.

"Then let's go!" Melissa said. "I may not know what we're looking for yet, but something tells me we dont want the bad guys to get them."

Alan thought of what it would be like to be home again. Even if it was only for a short time. "Okay. Let's go!"

With his new group of friends and comrades, Alan and company packed up their camping gear, and prepared to head to Alan's hometown, with hopes that they may find a new piece to an even larger puzzle.


	9. Chapter 9: Revenge

**Chapter 9: Revenge**

The skies were clear as day during the flight to Edgetown, where Alan had been raised. Freedom led the group, with Blitz and Strike following. Freedom was being polite, and keeping his speed to match theirs. He could go faster, and he wanted to go faster. The thought of being home and seeing his mother again made Alan more anxious, the closer he got. Freedom flipped his body around, so he was facing his new allies, but also still moving.

"We should be there in a few more minutes!" he shouted.

"Good!" Strike replied, "We're both almost out of power."

"We'll touch down as soon as we reach the mainland!" He instructed them, then turned back to focus on the area.

The mainland was finally visible. Home was finally within reach for Alan, as he flew toward everything he had once left behind. The thought of leaving nothing but a letter to his mother still made him feel terrible, even though he knew it was the only way he could go on the journey he'd been on. His memories of home then faded as a large explosion came from the heart of town. The three suits stopped in their aerial tracks.

"What the hell was that?" Blitz asked.

Freedom conducted scans. "It's a battle! Someone must know about the fragment here!"

"We have to stop them! Let's Go!" Strike said as she started to rush toward the battlefield, only to be stopped by Freedom.

"And what do you expect to do with less than 10 power?" He asked, "You two stay at the beach and lay low until you're at least at 50 power. I'll go and investigate."

"Be careful, Sir." Blitz said to him.

"Sir?" Freedom said, surprised that anyone would call him that. "Don't know if I'll get used to that one."

Blitz nodded at him, as Freedom nodded back. Everyone touched down at the beach outside of town, and powered down. Alan used his Civilian Scanners to see the battle, only to find that the weapons fire had ceased. He could also detect the energy signature coming from the fragment.

"It looks safe for me to go unarmored. Best we keep a low profile as much as possible." He said. "Instead of waiting around to juice up, I want you two to go and assess the damage. If people need help, help them."

"Good idea. I'd rather not feel totally useless." Sandra said.

"Agreed!" Melissa said. as they both began to enter Alan's hometown.

Alan looked around at the area that used to be his home, and found nothing but a path of destruction. His eyes widened in terror, at the thought of what had been happening. Bodies lay everywhere outside, and buildings were reduced to rubble and ash.

"Oh God!" Alan said, as he let out a scream of terror, falling to his knees in tears.

"It's all my fault!" he shouted. "I wasn't here to help these people!"

Sandra and Melissa crouched down, trying to comfort him, as a voice appeared from nearby.

"And what would you have done?" the voice said as a young man approached them. "The beings that attacked were too powerful for even myself to defeat, and I was blessed with quite the gift to fight them off. Even if you were here, Drake, you would have died all the same!"

Alan looked up to see a familiar face, the only face he could recognize that was still alive.

"Jim!" he shouted angrily, "Jim Taylor! Tell me what happened!"

Alan got up in a fit of rage and grabbed Jim by the collar. "TELL ME!"

"All right!" Jim said, as Alan put him down. "Last night, the first thing we heard was a woman's voice saying. 'A toast to the town that ruined my life!' The next thing I knew, we were under attack by four machines."

"Mobile suits." Alan interrupted.

"You know about them?" he inquired surprisingly.

"We all have." Sandra said exposing her bracelet. "Please, continue."

"Well, as I was saying, we were attacked. Whoever they were, they cared very little about anything short of this city's destruction. I tried to fight them off with the bracelet I received at the Edge fair a while back."

"...Wait!" Alan interrupted again, "You got your bracelet at the fair too?"

"Yes, after our little shooting contest. Hmm, now I understand why you won this year." Jim said.

"Which mobile suits attacked the city?" Melissa asked.

"My scanners detected that they were Calamity, Deathscythe, Forbidden and Raider." He said.

"Those three!" Alan said angrily. "I should have destroyed their bracelets while I had the chance." Alan began to grasp his palms into the dirt again.

"Relax, Alan." Jim said. "It wasn't your fault. The damage those three caused was nothing compared to Deathscythe. That was the suit who caused the final explosion earlier."

"So they weren't after anything in particular?" Sandra asked.

"From the look of it, only revenge." Jim said. "It did seem like they were looking for something at first, but they decided to level the place instead."

"They wanted the fragment." Alan said. "They were looking for the bracelet fragment, but couldn't find it, so they destroyed the city so no one else could have it."

"Wait, Sir." Melissa realized. "If your scanners are still picking it up, then it wasn't destroyed.

"You're right." Jim said. "Because it was given to me with my Justice bracelet.

The schematics of the Justice flew through Alan's eyes, but he ignored it because he was in too much emotional disoray.

"Then we're done here. Please, Jim. Give us the fragment, and then we're going after them!"

"Then I'm coming too." Jim said. "This is my home too, and they will pay for what they've done!"

"Fine, you can come, but you follow my rules." Alan said. "First and foremost, we're a team. We fight always together, never alone."

"Works for me." Jim agreed.

"Next, No one dies, be they friend or foe. The goal of the mission is to destroy the bracelets, and I refuse to take any lives. When we stop Deathscythe and her gang, We bring them to Justice, Not death. Understand?"

"I don't know how well I can follow that rule, but I will try, you have my word." Jim said.

"Just remember what your mobile suit's name represents, Jim."

Jim nodded as Alan got up and looked around. "Before we go anywhere, We bury the dead!" he said to his team.

"Agreed." Jim said, as the team suited up, knowing it would take less time to do so.

After several hours of burying the lost lives of the Edge massacre, Alan had one last body to lay to rest. holding the lifeless body of his mother, Alan, unarmored, placed his mother in the last dug up piece of dirt left. The tears would not stop coming from his eyes, as the pain of loss was beyond bearable.

"Goodbye mom," he said as he lay her down. "You gave me the best life I could ask for. I was proud to be your son, and I hope i can make you just as proud of me. Thank you for everything,"

her body was fully laid to rest as Strike and Justice filled the grave site with dirt. Right after, everyone else unarmored, and walked toward Alan, attempting to comfort him. He fought the tears long enough to speak to his team.

"We're done here now. Let's go and end this war! No more lives must be lost!"

Everyone nodded in agreement, as they headed back to the beach area, to prepare their continued mission. A new driving force surrounded the entire group. Melissa and Sandra may not have live in Edgetown, but the thought of what could happen to the rest of the world made them keep going. For Alan and Jim, this was no longer about the world alone, their part in this war is to honor their lost families and friends.

"From this day forth, Jim, there's no turning back. You sure you're ready for this?" Alan asked.

"We fight together, or share the fate of our town! Either way, we fight for the same reasons. I have no regrets."

"Good!" Alan said. "Then welcome to my team."

The new team set up camp at the beach, waiting for morning, and full power levels to come.


	10. Chapter 10: Purpose

**Chapter 10: Purpose**

The fire from the camp light illuminated the darkness of the area where Alan, Melissa, Sandra, and Jim. Everyone was sound asleep with the fire warming them, as Alan, wide awake, stared blankly into the fire. His face was expressionless, yet his mind was racing with the constant thoughts of what he had just lost. His hometown, and his mother were what defined him. Without these things supporting him, he didn't know what he has left.

He raised his arm and shifted his view to the bracelet.

"It's all because of you, isn't it?" he said quietly enraged."If you were never created, this wouldn't be happening!"

Jim awoke to the angry whispers, "Drake, it's not your fault or the bracelet's fault."

"What do you know?" he said without thinking.

Jim got up from his sleeping area and walked over to Alan, slapping him in the face with his back hand, knocking alan down to his side.

"What do I know!" he said, waking the others. "I know enough to know that I lost the exact same amount of people that you did in that massacre, Drake! And I fought them with everything I had! Do you know what it's like to fight someone with the greatest gift a person could get, and fight for the one thing you feel is worth fighting for, and LOSING? Becaused that's what I feel Every Single Day!"

Alan just looked at Jim, realizing that his pain is miniscule compared to what Jim suffered. Seeing the dead bodies was one thing, but watching them die must have been even worse, Alan thought.

"I-I'm sorry, Jim." Alan said.

"Me too," Jim responded, "But now's not the time to be mourning. We need to find those murderers, and at the same time, get the Archangel.

"The what?" Alan said.

"The Archangel. That's the battleship that is going to come out of these fragments." Jim said.

Alan got up from his fallen position, and sat by the fire again. "How do you know about it?"

Jim sat back down, as the girls finally sat in looking to hear the same, "I was told about it when I got the bracelet. I received a phone call from someone claiming to be a government scientist. He told me how to activate the Bracelet, and told me about the fragment. He said it was an excellent battleship, which he said I should use to bring Justice to this world. I scanned my database, and found that The Archangel is one badass ship. Whoever controls it, could tip the scale of this war tremendously."

Alan used his Civilian scanners to scan the data He had on the Archangel, and nodded in agreement.

"But we should also assume that there are other battleships out there." Melissa said.

"True," Jim said, "But I was given the fragment of the Archangel because I was 'The one who could bring Justice to the world'".

Alan thought for a moment. "Wait a second," He said, "I was told the same thing, only about bringing Freedom to the world."

"You got a phone call from that guy too?" Jim asked.

"No, someone hacked into my computer, and told me." Alan responded.

"It's funny," Sandra said. "I got an email from someone also claiming to be a government agent. He told me because of my hard times, I should use the bracelet to Strike back at my troubles."

"Same with me," Melissa said, "But I met this guy while I was still homeless on the street. He gave me the bracelet and said to use the Blitz to use the shadows as my ally and hunt down the rest of the world."

"This makes no sense," Alan said. "We were all told different reasons to use our bracelets, and all from the same group of people. Why?"

Everyone thought of an answer, but could not come up with one.

"It's one more mystery to figure out on this journey." Jim said, "But let's focus on what's at hand right now, like getting the rest of the Archangel fragments."

"He's right." Melissa said. "If we can get our hands on the Archangel, we may be able to track down the Deathscythe and the Moronic trio a lot easier."

"Then it's settled." Alan said as he activated his Civi scanners to look for the closest fragment. "Wow! There are three fragments on the move heading south towards the last piece...wait.." his scanners detected the location of the last fragment, and then looked at Melissa.

"What is it?" She asked.

"The island! The last fragment is on the Island and that mobile suit is headed right for it!"

"What? No!" Melissa said. "Alan, we can't let anyone attack the island. We've worked so hard to make it a good home, and the people there can't defent themselves anymore."

"I know, If we leave now, we can make it before he gets there, but only Jim and I will have power. You two will have to be damage control."

"Agreed." Jim said, "Protect the innocent."

"Right!" Sandra and Melissa said in unison.

"Well, sleeping time is over, Lets move!"

The got up and activated their mobile suits, setting off for Melissa's newly developed home.


	11. Chapter 11: Challenge

**Chapter 11: Challenge**

A speeding group of jetstreams flew over the heads of those living on the Military Island. the sound of soaring mobile suits flew through their ears as two familiar machines touched down in their arena, as well as two machines they had not seen before. Everyone rushed to greet their old friends, One a resident of the island, and the other, their savior. The four suits powered down, as Alan, Melissa, Sandra and Jim revealed themselves. One man approached them from the crowds and extended a handshake offer to Melissa and Alan.

"Welcome back, my friends!" He said, as Melissa shook his hand, then Alan. "It is so good to see you are well."

"Alan," Melissa said, introducing the man, "This is Chairman Marcus Devereaux. He was appointed our leader after Lars Keough was arrested."

"Well, I'm sure if the people voted for you, you are a more than capable leader." Alan said.

"Thank you, Sir Freedom." he said.

"Enough with the pleasantries." Jim interrupted. "We are here for a reason, remember."

"You must mean the mobile suit that's on approach, don't you?" The chairman said.

Alan and Melissa seemed surprised that he already knew. Melissa stepped forward. "You mean you managed to get the perimeter scanners up and running again?"

"Ho Ho Ho! We have done a lot more than that." He responded. "We managed to re-establish a link with the perimeter defense system as well. I know we likely won't be able to do a lot of damage to the enemy, but we can at least slow him down."

"Incredible!" Jim said. "This place seemed like nothing more than a run down old installation."

The chairman looked at him, "Well, you'd be surprised what an old man like me can do, Mr. Justice."

Jim looked at him shocked. "How did you know about my suit?"

"That doesn't matter right now, Jim. We need to start sheltering the people." Alan interrupted, "Chaiman, is there a place where we can do that?"

"Ho Ho Ho! We're ten steps ahead of you." He said, sounding a bit cocky.

Sandra stepped forward, remembering an important detail, and revealed her Archangel fragment, "Sir, do you know of anyone here who may have anything resembling this fragment?"

The old chairman leaned in to look closely at it, "Hmmmm, I'm sorry, Missie. I don't know of anyone with anything like that at all."

Alan looked over at Sandra, "Don't worry. I have a feeling I know exactly where it is."

"You don't think..." Melissa said, knowing what Alan what thinking.

Alan turned to everyone, "Everyone, double check the evacuation sequence. Make sure everyone is safely in the shelter areas. I'll be back soon, and I'll have the fragment in tow."

Everyone nodded as they began to go their separate ways. Jim then walked over to Alan and tapped him on the shoulder, once everyone was out of hearing distance.

"Alan, I don't trust this chairman." Jim whispered, "I think he knows more than he's letting on."

"I know." Alan responded just as quietly, "But we need him right now. Watch him, though. If he does anything too out of character, contact me."

Jim nodded and went back to the group, as Alan headed for an area he was once familiar with.

The dank and darkness of the prison area hadn't changed since Alan woke up there two months ago. Only one cell was occupied. The figure of a once brutal enemy appeared before Alan.

"Isn't this a bit of a switch from last time." Lars said to Alan.

"Only difference is I'm not welcoming you to this society. I've come for your fragment." Alan responded.

"And why in the hell should I give it to you?"

"You're a soldier," Alan began, "Your first duty as a soldier is to protect the innocent. Isn't that what you wanted when you started your little army?"

"What does that have to do with this?" he said, teasing Alan with the fragment.

"There's an enemy mobile suit coming, and he's after the fragments. He will level this place to get it, and he will spare no one. If you give me the fragment, I can protect these people."

"That's all you're about, isn't it?" Lars said sarcastically. "You were given a war machine, and you aren't overcome by the fact that this is a war, and lives are collateral damage."

Alan gripped his fists in anger, thinking of his mother. "No life is expendible! The loss of even one life can impact hundreds of other people. Families, friends, it doesn't matter. When a person you know or love dies, you feel it, no matter how deep down you bury those feelings, they still exist."

Alan turned his back to Lars, trying to hide the tears of his loss. "You said you brought these people here, and gave them a home. That makes you family to them, even if you went about things wrongly. Now help me protect them. Please give me the fragment."

Lars thought about what he said, and threw the fragment to his back, letting it hit the ground. Alan turned around and picked it up.

"Know this, Freedom." Lars said, "I'm not doing this for some self righteous course. You got a decent reason to be fighting. I'm looking to see if you can back it up."

Lars looked at him, and gave him a supporting thumbs up, as Alan looked at him, nodded, and ran back to the others. Lars thought to himself and began to mutter.

"That boy is going to get himself killed if he continues these beliefs, Let's hope he realizes the truth about war before that happens. Good luck, Kid."

Alan raced to the arena where the others reconvened.

"Alan!" Sandra said, noticing him first. "Did you get it?"

Alan caught his breath and nodded.

"Good," Jim said. "According to Chairman Devereaux, if we keep the fight in the arena, no one in the shelter should be affected."

"Good work." Alan said, as alarms sounded in the base.

"That's it." the chairman said. "He's broken past the defenses. He's coming."

Everyone looked at eachother, and activated their bracelets. The armors were formed, and Freedom, Justice, Strike and Blitz were alive again.

"Chairman, you should head for the shelters." Blitz said to him. The chairman then took off without hesitation, as a new figure appeared before them. The suit was black, with red tints to it, and ad a set of black wings. It set down, and the wings folded over his chest, as if it were wearing a cape now.

"Greetings, I come serving Lady Deathscythe, I seek the Battleship fragments in your possession. Hand them over, and no one will be hurt. Refuse, and I will burn this island to the ground. Choose!"

Freedom and Justice scanned the machine, revealing it was the Master Gundam. A high efficiency mobile suit designed for melee and hand to hand combat. Freedom stepped forward.

"Deathscythe? the one who massacred Edgetown? Freedom said in a rage.

"Ah, that was a beautiful storm, brought forth by M'lady. Truly, a masterpiece."

"Masterpiece!" Freedom screamed in anger as he charged at him angrily

"Freedom, NO!" Justice shouted to no avail.

"YOU BASTARDS KILLED MY MOTHER!" He screamed as he charged forth, drawing both beam sabers, and joining them to create a double edged beam staff. The attack was blocked by Master, who parried the attack with his arm, forcing the staff out of Freedom's hands, and countering with a flurry of punches to the chest, with a knockout punch across the face. Freedom was flung back, and hit the ground hard. His chest was dented with fist marks.

"You can't let your emotions get the better of you like that!" Justice said. "Let me take him."

Justice walked to Master, "Hey, I have a proposition for you."

"Speak." Master responded.

"You and me, Winner take all. If I win, you give me your fragments. If you win, you get ours, and We'll let you take us to your Lady Deathscythe."

"Hmm, I do like a challenge." Master said. "Very well."

"Justice, be careful." Freedom said.

"Dont worry, I have a plan. I need the fragments though."

"What?" Freedom said.

"Just trust me." Justice insisted, as Freedom handed over his fragments, and Strike handed hers.

Justice walked over to an area, giving him plenty of distance between himself and Master.

"On three, we throw the fragments to the center, Then last one standing gets them!" he shouted.

"Very well." Master said as he pulled out his fragments.

"One, Two... Three!" Justice shouted as they threw their fragments into the air. The instant after, Master raced after them with enormous speed. Justice, remained in his place, only revealing his Beam rifle and two blasters from his back mounted Accelerator fired off thin but precice beams. The beams connected with the unsuspecting Master, which penetrated his armor clear through the shoulders and one knee. Master fell instantly, screaming in pain, as Justice walked to the center, grabbing the fragments, and then walking to Master.

"You may be a good melee fighter, but you kind of need arms and legs to do it."

"You ungrateful Bastard!" Master said. "That fight was without Honor!"

"Anyone who will applaud the massacre of a town deserve no honor..." Justice said in a dark voice.

Justice drew one of his beam sabers, and activated it, He placet it at the edge of Master's Neck and was about to swing with all his might, with intent of removing his head clean. The thrust was stopped by the hand of the damaged Freedom.

"Stop!" Freedom said, "You promised me no killing!"

Justice tried to fight him to finish what he started.

"Don't sink to their level, Jim! Please!"

Freedom's words finally struck Justice as he put his saber away. He walked away. as Freedom looked at master.

"Remember this defeat, and tell your Mistress that this is only the beginning. We will bring her to justice.

Master managed to find the energy to open his wings and fly off, but his arms and leg hung uselessly during his flight. Freedom walked back toward the group as he and the others powered down. Jim fell to his knees and began to cry, thinking of what he was about to do.

"Why?" He shouted. "Why do people like him exist?"

Alan knelt down to comfort him, even though he knew it wouldn't help. Jim had been nothing but strong since the massacre, so Alan knew that it would only be a matter of time before he broke down.

"Why they exist doesn't matter. We just have to stop them." Alan said in comfort, "You and I are the legacy of Edgetown. Let's make sure it is avenged properly."

Alan stood up and offered his hand to Jim. "Will you fight with me?"

Jim looked up at Alan, standing with confidence. He grabbed Alans wrist and was pulled up to stand. Alan then looked at Sandra and Melissa.

"Ladies," Alan said. "We are planning to avenge the loss of our home. Will you join us?"

Sandra and Melissa looked at eachother, "We've been with you this far, why not go the rest of the way?" Melissa said.

"Thank you all." Jim said as he looked at the six fragments he fought for. "Now, how do these things work?"

"I can help you with that, Dear Jim." said a voice from the distance. Everyone looked to see Chairman Devereaux walking back to them. "If you'll come with me, We'll get started with the preparations."

Everyone was a bit curious of how he claimed to know so much, but decided to follow, if not to find something to eat.

In a shadowed corridor, somewhere in the northern hemisphere, The tattered and wrecked Master Gundam knelt before a high altar. Atop stood a black mobile suit, carrying a large beam scythe. Its arm was mounted with what looked like a small shield with a blade sticking out the top of it.

"M'Lady, I have failed you." Master said to it.

"Failed me? Failed me?" she said, sounding angry. "Not only did you fail in retrieving an Archangel fragment, you lost them All! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you?"

"I have news of the enemy. News that may interest you." Master said, hoping it would spark some intrigue.

"Really?" She said, "Speak then."

"The enemy, two of them, if not all, claimed to be from the town M'Lady just incinerated."

"They're from Edgetown?" she said, quite intrigued.

"Yes, M'Lady. One said so himself." He said.

Lady Deathscythe walked down the altar toward Master, "This does bode interesting. If they are survivors, then I must wipe them out. As for you, Master, You have given decent information to me. However..."

"However?" Master asked looking up, seeing his mistress swing her scythe across his neck. His head fell off with ease afterward.

"However, it wasn't good enough reason to keep you alive."

Just after, the Calamity walked into the room.

"Calamity, Clean this mess up, and then finalize the preparations for the Vesalius, I have to go and acquaint myself with some homegrown heroes."

Calamity bowed down in respect. "Yes, M'Lady."

Calamity rose to pick up the wrecked body of the Master, as Lady Deathscythe flew past him out the door in a hurry to meet those who survived the Edgetown massacre.


	12. Chapter 12: Impact

**Chapter 12: Impact**

The conference table within the Island base was surrounded by Alan and his Cohort, including Chairman Devereaux, looking at the six bracelet fragments that lay on the table.

"So," Alan said to the others, "Now that we have the fragments, how do we call out the Archangel?"

Everyone looked at each other, thinking of an answer to that question, but they were all unsure of anything, short of what they had been told about their mission.

"We need a crew!" the Chairman said as everyone turned to him, "Each fragment holds a section of the ship, so we need a bridge crew to activate and operate the ship."

Melissa thought that to be a good idea, "That makes sense, but that doesn't change the fact that one, we're only a group of four, and two, even if we were six, we would be needed to fight and protect the ship at times, so how do we get around that?"

"Simple," Devereaux responded. "We have a pretty eager bunch of people on the island that would be willing to fight for your cause, and they are well trained in the ship's operations. They will be your crew."

Jim stood up after slamming his hands down onto the table, "All right, that does it! How do you know so much about all of this?" he asked rudely, "There's no way you can know so much without being part of giving us the bracelets, and starting this war! So it's Time you started explaining yourself!"

Devereaux simply looked at him and smirked, "You know, you remind me a lot of myself when I was your age, so quick to learn what you're not yet ready to know."

"With all due respect, Chairman," Sandra said, "You do seem to have more knowledge about the Archangel than we do, wouldn't it be better if we knew how you know all of this?"

"If the circumstances were different, I would gladly tell you everything you need to know, but unfortunately, that time is not now, but I promise you all, that everything that is happening is happening for a reason, and you will soon understand the meaning of what you now have. At this point, I can say no more."

Jim slammed his hands down again, "That's not good enough!"

Alan stood up and grabbed Jim by the shoulder, "Enough, Jim!"

"Alan, you can't just stand here and accept that!" Jim said angrily, "He may be a part of this war! Which means because of him, our home was destroyed!"

"I know that, but what other options do we have?" Alan said. "Right now, Chairman Devereaux is helping us get the Archangel off the ground. We have no reason to believe that he is doing anything other than helping us with our mission."

Jim pulled away from Alan's hand and started walking out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Alan asked.

"To get some air." Jim said in a more agitated voice.

Alan looked at everyone else and sat down, letting out a sigh of uncertainty.

Melissa stood up, "Let me go talk to him."

Before she could leave, an alarm sounded. Devereaux walked over to a communications panel, and pressed on the speaker button, "Report!"

The box responded, _"Sir, Proximity Alert! Unidentified bogey coming in hot! Currently on an impact course with the island shore!"_

"Can you determine if it's a mobile suit?" Alan shouted to the speaker.

_"Negative, Sir! Heat source is too high a level to determine anything."_

_"_Can you pinpoint the landing area?" the Chairman asked.

_"Yes, Sir! Transferring image to Conference monitor!"_

"Good work. Keep me posted." He said as he walked back to the table, and pressed a button on the table console. The monitor then showed an overhead map of the island with an X marking the impact point.

"That's not far from this room." Melissa pointed out.

Alan reacted quickly and activated his bracelet's comm. system. "Jim, Come in!"

Jim, who was standing outside near a tree, looking up to the sky, received the message and responded. "Three guesses as to why you're contacting me."

_"Are you within a safe distance?"_

"I'm still on the high ground, so I should be fine."

_"Investigate as soon as it lands!"_

"Roger."

It didn't take long after the communication for the Fire ball to hit the ground, causing a slight tremor on the island. Jim nearly tripped, but remained composed by holding onto the nearby tree. He jumped down to the newly formed crater, whose flames have subsided almost instantly after the impact. Jim looked down the bottom of the crater to find the body of a woman, slightly emaciated, with long blonde hair. Her clothing had been burned up in the collision. Jim jumped down and removed his jacket. He covered her up as best he could, as she woke up slightly in his arms.

"Are you all right? What happened?" Jim asked.

The girl could barely speak. She was able to sound out a few words. "Help...Massacre...Edge..." Was all she could say before passing out. Jim climbed her up the crater and rushed her to the Medical area.

Everyone was waiting outside the girl's medical room for the doctor's report. He finally emerged, and reported to the Chairman.

"How is she?" Devereaux asked.

"Well, she's been shaken up a bit, but other than a few slight burns, she is going to be fine after some rest."

"Thank you doctor." The chairman said.

"One more thing, Mr. Chairman." The doctor said, "She has a bracelet."

"That would explain what happened." Sandra mentioned.

"What do you mean?" Alan asked.

"When I was on the run for the moron squad, I diverted a lot of power to my mobility. I almost overheated every thousand miles, but I managed to keep it under control. Her suit may have done the same thing, but overheated to the point where it was uncontrollable."

"Alan," Jim said, as Alan looked at him, "She said a few things when I found her. She said 'Help, Massacre, and Edge. She may be a survivor from Edgetown."

Alan then looked back at her, "She is."

Jim looked in a surprised fashion. "What?"

"Her name is Justine Dexam. She went to our high school, Jim. You don't recognize her?"

Jim looked at her carefully, trying to recognize her. "Not really."

"Doesn't surprise me." Alan said, "She was probably the most unpopular girl in school. A complete loner. We worked on a few group assignments together, and I was probably her only friend. She had fallen for me too, but at the time, I was dating Laurie Howard, so I told her we could only be friends. She was pretty distant from me afterward."

"Maybe you should wait in there until she wakes up." Jim suggested. "A familiar face might help her adjust to what's happened."

"Agreed, but something troubles me." Alan thought. "If she was there at the Edgetown Massacre, why didn't your sensors pick her up? Your scanners are just as good as mine, being a nuclear mobile suit. You should have detected her."

"It was pretty hectic during the fight. I didn't have a lot of time to scan everything that moved. She could have been there, but I was more focused on the fight."

"Still," Alan thought. "Something's not right about this. What do you think, Chairman?"

Devereaux looked at Alan, thinking of the situation. "I think we should keep an eye on her at all times. See to it she's not left alone.

"I'll stay with her until we figure things out." Alan said. You guys start prepping the Archangel. We're going airborne as soon as possible.

Everyone nodded in agreement, as Alan went into Justine's medical room, and sat next to her. The chairman turned to the others.

"Well, How would you like to meet the bridge crew for the Archangel?"

Everyone looked in agreement, as Melissa pulled back. "You guys go ahead, Me and Jim are gonna go talk for a bit"

Jim seemed confused as Melissa pulled him away and brought him to an outside area. They ended up at the grassy area with the nearby tree that Jim was standing by before the Impact.

"Melissa, what's this about?" Jim asked as Melissa swung around and slapped him across the face.

"Who the hell do you think you are, talking to a respected man like that!" she said angrily.

"Look, I'm sorry," Jim said, holding his cheek. "I just can't trust him. I can't trust anyone anymore. Not after what happened."

"You can't even trust us?" she asked, feeling hurt.

"I'm only with you guys because it will lead me to the one who destroyed my home. It hurts even worse because the killer is actually from my home. Do you know what it's like, being betrayed by one of your own?"

"Actually, I do." She said. "The only person who respected me when I got here, turned out to be a war crazed lunatic. I likely wouldn't even be here today if it weren't for Alan's help."

"I don't understand what you see in him." Jim said. "I know he's an excellent fighter, but his compassion for life is going to get us all killed."

"Maybe, but his cause is better than bloody vengeance. I'd rather die protecting people, than going into a battle without a chance of winning. Do you really want to die that badly?"

Jim thought about it, as Melissa continued.

"Well, whether you do or not, I don't want you to die. I want you to live and be happy. That's why I fight. To protect those I care about."

Jim looked at her as she poured her heart out. Everything she was saying made him realize that He didn't have a reason to fight.

"You're right." He began to say. "I've been lashing out because of my rage and hatred for everything. But I know now that I can trust you, and the others."

"Then you'll fight with us now, with no more anger?"

"I can't promise you that," Jim said. "I still can't forgive those murderers for what they've done. But I will play by Alan's rules, and I'll do everything I can to protect you."

Jim and Melissa looked deep into each other's eyes as their attraction grew stronger. He took her into his arms and kissed her with a deep passion. The kiss broke apart as Melissa looked at him.

"Maybe, when this is all over, you could make this your new home." She said.

"I think it'll be something to think about." He said playfully. "We should probably get back in Sandra's probably waiting for us.

She agreed as they let go of each other, heading back into the living area.

Alan sat by the chair as Justine woke up sooner than expected. She looked over to see a face she wasn't expecting to see.

"…Alan?" she said, still regaining her strength, "This isn't possible. You're alive?"

"I could say the same thing about you." Alan said back to her.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"Don't worry, we're safe." He said. "We're on an Island in the south pacific."

"This was the only populated area I could find nearby when I shorted out."

"Can you tell me what happened?" He asked.

"The massacre came like lightning. All I could do was get out of there. When I took off, I ended up being caught in an explosion. I didn't realize it damaged the Vernier thrusters on my Tallgeese. I diverted all the power I could to them, but eventually I burned up, I found the most populated place, and I prayed I would make it. And then you were there to save me."

"Actually, someone else saved you. I'm just here to make sure you're all right."

"So, does that mean you have a bracelet too?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I was given the Freedom." He answered.

"Freedom? I'm not familiar with it." She said.

"I'm sure you will be in good time. Listen, We're tracking down the ones who destroyed Edgetown. Why don't you join us?"

"I don't think anyone can beat them. I've never seen that kind of power before."

Alan took her hand and looked at her. "Then join us so we can beat them." He said to her, trying to inspire her. "There are four of us right now, and we are about to launch our transport ship, the Archangel. We will stand up to them, and fight to stop another massacre from happening again."

Justine looked at him, and nodded. "Okay, count me in." She said as she sat up from her bed.

"Great!" Alan said, "Then let's go and introduce you to the others."

Alan helped her out of bed, and guided her out of the room. His memories of Justine began to resurface, and he felt glad that his old friend was still alive.

The arena area of the complex was filled with the island's population, anxiously awaiting the launch of the Archangel. Chairman Devereraux had been placing his bridge crew in specific areas around the island. He was specifically calculating the distance from one officer to the next, making sure every position was correct. Finally, he walked to the sidelines, where Melissa, Sandra and Jim were waiting.

"Looks like everything's ready to go." Devereaux said to them as he turned around to shout. "Okay, On my Command! Three…..Two….. One…. GO!"

Instantly, the six officers shouted the activation command.

"Archangel, Launch!"

A flash of light, even more intense than any light that a movbile suit transformation could give off, surrounded the entire arena, as the officers began to rise into the air, and become enveloped by the light of the newly formed battleship. As the light subsided, a white battleship, with a red underbelly and what appeared to look like four legs crouching like a dog laying down, formed in the arena. Everyone witnessing the sight was staring in awe of the new power.

"Remarkable, isn't it?" The chairman said, as all the others could do was nod in astonishment.

Alan and Justine finally arrived to see the Archangel, and Alan was in as much awe as everyone else. He walked toward it, leaving Justine behind, as he reminded himself that he was one step closer to completing his goal.

"Well done everyone." Alan said, "Now, Let's get this bad boy running. We don't know when the enemy will strike, so let's assume the worst case scenario, So we need to get moving Yesterday!"

The crowd cheered in respect and began to chant, "For Freedom!" lasting some time. It was only then that Chairman Devereaux looked toward Justine, only to find nothing, but a green light charge. The light launched, revealing what looked like the base of a dagger with two prongs coming out the sides, aimed at the Archangel.

Devereaux reacted instinctively, as he moved, jumping into the air.

"Justice Launching!" he shouted, as his own Justice armor activated around him. He flew into the trajectory of the weapon and took the hit full force. The beam end of the missile ran through his chest plate clear through, and he fell to the ground, as the armor subsided. Sandra and Melissa rushed to his aide, as Alan and Jim turned around, and reacted simultaneously.

"Freedom, Launching!"

"Justice, Launching!"

They Both transformed, and turned to the firing area, only to see the form of the Deathscythe in front of them.

"I knew I didn't trust that bitch!" Justice said. "She played us for a bunch of suckers!"

Freedom realized he meant Justine, and realized that it means she was the one who destroyed Edgetown.

"Justine!" he shouted at her, "Why did you do it?"

"That town brought me nothing but pain and sorrow!" she said, angrily, "I merely returned the favor!"

"But what about all the innocent people?" he said, trying to make sense of it all.

"Expendable losses. I was really hoping to wipe you out too, but it will be even more fun now that I know you're alive." She said, "But now that I know what I'm up against, I'll leave you to make this fight more fun. Meet me in space, and we will finish what you so desperately want to start. Till we meet again, Alan Drake" She said as she began to laugh. She activated a cloaking system, and disappeared. As the laughing voice faded with her.

Freedom and Justice powered down, and Jim and Alan joined the girls with the dying chairman. Jim looked at him, remembering his moment of heroism.

"You saved us and the Archangel. Thank you." He said.

"If it helps you become a better person, It was worth it." He said, gasping for air.

"How come you had a Justice mobile suit? I thought it was only meant for me" Jim asked.

"Go to the moon……all your questions will be answered there….." Devereaux said as he fell back, lifeless in Melissa and Sandra's arms.

Jim stood tall, and gave a salute to the late Chairman Devereaux, and everyone else in the population followed suit. He put his hand down, and turned to Alan.

"We should do what he says," Jim said, "I think this is where our answers lay."

Alan gave a smirk, "Finally a believer, are ya?"

Jim nodded, as Alan continued,

"He's right. Prep the ship for Launch! Next stop, the Moon!"


	13. Chapter 13: Launch

**Chapter 13: Launch**

The arena was filled with every inhabitant of the island complex, as former soldiers were laying wreaths around a photograph of Chairman Devereaux. Alan and Melissa stood by a podium, which was set up in front of the Archangel, as Melissa began to give an address to the population. Her words were garbled and unsure, and everyone who heard them could tell that she was torn up over his death.

"W-When I first arrived on the Island, I was welcomed by our former commander, as you all were as well." She said, "But who, during that time here, guided you, and helped you feel like you belonged here? I don't know about all of you, but the Chairman was there for me every step of the way. I assume the same for all of you, otherwise you wouldn't have voted him the Chairman. It is up to us to continue honoring his memory the best way we can. By continuing the society based on his guidance, and we must never waver from our peaceful life."

Everyone paused and nodded, feeling she was right. She continued, only looking more at the Archangel's crew.

"On this day, we mark the launch of the Archangel. We fight in what our Chairman died to protect. It is the duty of our crew to ensure that he did not die for nothing! We will fight, and bring those responsible for this crime, among many others, to Justice!"

She raised her hand to get the city prepared and shouted, what became the new motto on the island.

"For Freedom and Justice!" she shouted loudly.

Just then, the entire island could hear those words being shouted all around. It was as if a new life was brought into the despair of loss. Alan and Melissa walked off the podium and walked up the runway, entering the Archangel.

Alan and Melissa arrived on the bridge of the Archangel. It was rather wide, with a section for each post. Navigation, Helm, Communications, Engineering, Weapons, and Sensors. Each of Devereaux's selected crewmembers were sitting at their stations, as Sandra and Jim were standing at the bridge, overseeing the setup. Jim noticed Alan and Melissa's arrival and turned to them.

"That was an excellent speech, Mel." Jim said to her.

She smiled and nodded in response as Alan looked around.

"What's the status on the ship?" He asked, as Sandra turned around.

"All systems ready. All she needs is a captain." she responded.

"I thought we had a captain." Alan said.

"The Chairman was planning to command, but I don't think we can count on that anymore."

"True enough. So who do we have lined up for a captain?" Alan asked, as the helmsman stood up.

"Sir! Permission to Speak, Sir!" He said to Alan.

"Uhh, Granted." he said, feeling strange to be called 'Sir'. "And drop the formalities. that's uh... an order?"

"Yes, sorry, sir." He continued. "We believe that you should command the ship. Your skills in battle are second to none."

Alan felt somehow honored that people were considering him a great man, and he thought about their consideration, but realized one thing they had not.

"As much as I appreciate the offer, I cannot command the ship." he said, "We don't know what to expect once we get out into space, and I may be needed to command my team in combat. We need to find a different captain for this boat."

"But who can we get?" Melissa asked. "No one here really has the command experience to captain something like this."

"Actually, there is." Alan said as he walked away, heading for the exit.

"Where are you going?" Melissa shouted to him.

"To get our new captain, before you talk me out of it." He replied as he left the ship.

Melissa realized who he was talking about, and finally realized who he was getting.

'He's crazy' she thought to herself, but then realized he was right. There was no one better suited for command.

The stench in the prison area was no different than Alan's last visit, as he approached the Cell of Lars Keough. Lars looked up from his sitting position to see Alan once again.

"So, need more help, do you?" he said to him. "Some leader you are."

"You're right." Alan said, " I'm not a leader. Which is why we need you."

"You want me to command the Archangel, am I right?"

"That's the idea. But there are conditions to your release."

"And they are?" Lars asked.

"First. You are in command Only if and when I'm fighting in space, or if I'm off ship for any reason."

Lars laughed. "I assumed as much. Next?"

"Second, Your job is to protect the lives on the ship. That will always be your top priority."

"It always was." He said, responding to his comment."

"Last. and most important. No lives will be lost unnecessarily."

"Still clinging to that pipe dream of a moral?" Lars asked him.

"We fight to protect life, not to take it. Now those are my terms. Do you accept?" Alan asked as he offered his hand through the bars. '

"Well," Lars said, thinking. "I did want to see how these ideals of yours play out. What better opportunity than being out on the front lines with you? I accept!"

Lars stood up and shook Alan's hand. Alan then opened the cell and released him, giving him a new, clean uniform that he had brought with him. He gave Lars a moment in the restroom to change and clean himself up, and he returned a few minutes later, cleaned up, in his new uniform. They then proceeded to the Archangel, to prepare for liftoff.

Alan and Lars walked onto the bridge, as Alan shouted to the crew.

"Captain on the Bridge!"

The bridge crew stood up, and saluted the new captain. Lars then saluted back.

"At ease." He sad, as everyone sat back at their stations. Melissa walked up to him, with a look of anger and hatred.

"Let's get one thing straight, Keough," Melissa said to him in an aggravated tone. "I will take no orders from you. My commanding officer is Alan, regardless of you!" she said as she stormed away, heading towards her quarters. Jim followed her in hopes of comforting her, as Lars shrugged it off, and sat at the captain's chair.

"Engineering, Status!" he said.

"All systems ready for launch."

"Begin ignition sequence. Navigation, course!"

Navigation responded quickly. "Plotting course to take us to Lunar orbit."

"Very well," Lars said, "Launch as soon as we're ready!"

"Yes, Sir." Helm said "Launching in ten minutes."

The engine began to roar under their feet as new life formed within the Archangel. Lars made an announcement to the people outside.

_"This is the Captain! All those outside of the ship must leave the premises Immediately!" _

The arena cleared out rather quickly as the Archangel began to light up with power, and the powering engine caused the ground to shake slightly. The time flew by rather quickly, as Alan began to speak to the crew during the countdown.

"All right, Listen up Everyone!" He said. "Chairman Devereaux said that or final solution would be waiting for us on the Moon. Once we reach Lunar orbit, Team Freedom will launch to the surface and see if we can find what we're looking for. Once we're out of Earth's orbit, I want a global scan of remaining mobile suits. I want to know how many are left, and if any other battleships have been activated. Let's do our best and fight for everything we've set out to achieve!"

"Launch in thirty seconds!" the helmsman stated.

Lars activated the internal loudspeaker to warn Jim and Melissa.

_"All hands, this is the Captain! Brace yourselves for launch."_

"Launch in Five, Four, Three, Two, One..."

"The engine then let out a loud roar as the Archangel lifted off the ground, and began to pull itself upward, flying into the sky. As soon as the area cleared, the Island population returned to the arena to see the ship fly away into the sky.

The helmsman kept track of his systems as he piloted the ship into space,

"Leaving the atmosphere in ten seconds." He said as he counted down the time. The ship punched through the atmosphere and instantly after, Alan and Melissa began to float around.

"Activating bridge gravitational stabilizers." The engineering officer said, as the two floaters landed on the ground again.

"Beginning global scan." the sensors officers said. "Sir, detecting fifty four mobile suits and one battleship, all gathered in the same location."

"Anything coming from space?" Alan asked.

"Checking... None, sir."

"Very well." Alan said. "Maintain course."

Alan then walked over to the captain's chair and activated the internal comm. system.

_"Team Freedom to the briefing room Immediately! Repeat, Team Freedom to the Briefing room Immediately!" _

Sandra waited for Alan as they then left for the briefing room.

Jim and Melissa arrived shortly after Alan and Sandra, and they began their meeting.

"So, we have a situation, and I'm unsure about how to go about it." Alan began. "Suffice it to say, we're outnumbered fifty to one. Justine massed an army of mobile suits, and I've no idea what to expect."

"Well, that's not as big a problem as you think, Alan." Jim said. "We can handle ourselves in combat, and our suits definitely have a speed advantage over theirs, as well as a significant power advantage."

"And I can cloak and disable enemy mobile suits." Melissa said.

"And I can hold my own in a fight now, thanks to all of you." Sandra added.

"We can hold off our enemies with ease." Jim said.

"I know that, and I never did doubt your abilities." Alan said, "My other concern is the combat situation. Back on earth, we could destroy a bracelet, and then it's over. But if we did that in space, we may not leave people alive. We may not be able to follow our ideal. We need a solution, and we need it fast!"

"I don't think there's anything we can do about it, Alan." Jim said. "There's no way we can save every single life out there, as much as we want to."

"I know, but we need to minimalize the casualties as much as possible."

_"Team Freedom to the bridge On the double!" _ came from the loudspeaker in the briefing room, as the group ran to the bridge as fast as they could.

"Captain!" Alan said. "Report."

"We've got a large ship on approach coming from the moon."

"Can you get a visual?" he asked.

The main view screen activated, showing a red ship staring them down. Alan and Jim's civilian scanners activated, giving ship details.

"This ship is the Eternal. It's a rather powerful warship." Alan said.

Lars didn't hesitate. "In that case, Load all weapons, Charge Gottfried cannons, Prepare Hell darts, Load Igelstellungs!"

"Belay that order! Stand down!" Alan said.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You said it's coming from the moon. That means it's likely the "answer" the chairman was speaking of."

"But we should at least take up a defensive position!" Lars said, getting frustrated.

"Not until I say so." Alan said.

"Captain," said the comm. officer. "Incoming transmission from the Eternal."

"Put it on screen." Alan said.

A visual of two men and two women appeared. Their clothing was something you would see out of a science fiction show, and they were old. Somewhere in their forties, one of which was nearing sixty. One of the Men spoke.

"This is the crew of the Eternal. State your business!"

"I could ask myself the same thing," Alan said. "We were told to come here by a man named Devereaux."

"Devereaux? Is he with you?" The man asked.

"I'm sorry, but he was killed protecting this ship." Alan responded.

"Then it's all going as planned. Team Freedom, I invite you aboard, so you may have all your questions answered." The man said.

"Very well, We'll see you soon, Drake out!" he said as the transmission was cut. "Team, prep your space suits, it's time to get some answers.

The bridge of the other ship had a similar look as the Archangel, only it seems more maneuverable with its stations. The 2 men and women on the boat looked at each other after ending the transmission. as the leading man looked at the others.

"I forgot how young they are." he said. as the oldest gentleman looked back at him.

"I remember a time when you were all that young, you know." He said.

"I guess you're right." The leader responded, as their sensors detected four mobile suits on approach from the Archangel to the Eternal.

"All right, everyone. Let's go greet our guests." The leader said as they headed for the docking bay.


	14. Chapter 14: History

**Chapter 14: History**

Alan and Team Freedom were making their way through the vast reaches of space. None of them had ever felt what it is like to be in a zero-G environment, so they decided to take their time approaching the Eternal.

"Freedom," Justice said. "Shouldn't we be getting to the Eternal as soon as possible?"

"Technically, yes." Freedom responded, "But come on. Haven't you always wanted to be in space? We should bask in an opportunity so few can achieve. Besides, once we get a feel for our motion up here, we'll have a better understanding of how our bodies and mobile suits will react during combat."

"He's right," Strike said. "Knowing those three idiots who chased me for so long, I know that they aren't exactly patient. I would expect an attack as soon as they find us."

Blitz turned to Freedom. "What about this Deathscythe girl? How do you think she'll act?"

"To be honest, I have no idea. I thought I knew her way back when, but now..." He thought for a moment, and realized he didn't have anything to complete his sentence.

"Heads up everyone!" Strike said. "Eternal on approach."

"All right, guys. Let's go get some answers!" Freedom said, thinking it would inspire them.

Everyone followed Freedom to the ship, as a door began to open. It created a runway, allowing them to guide themselves in without any problems. As soon as everyone was within a safe distance inside, and away from the door, it began to seal, and then gravity was restored to normal within the docking bay. Everyone powered down their bracelets upon the sealing of the door, as a smaller door opened, revealing one of the women that was on the monitor during the first communication.

"Welcome to the Eternal, my friends." she said, in a sincerely welcoming tone. "I hope the trip went well."

"It did, thank you." Sandra replied.

"I am surprised though." The woman pointed out, noticing their clothes. "I expected you to be wearing the space suits supplied on the Archangel. You may want to think about that next time you go out there. Especially into combat."

"I knew we forgot something..." Jim said.

"Well, enough about that. I'm sure you're all anxious to know what's going on." She said to them. "Please, come this way." she said, showing them to the door she came from. Everyone followed her, and it let through a hallway, to an elevator. They all entered, but found it to be slightly cramped inside.

"Sorry about that." The woman said. "This ship wasn't particularly designed for comfort, I'm afraid."

The elevator finally stopped as they reached a room with a conference table. The room was similar to the Conference room on the island. Seated in the room were the two men and the other woman from the communication. The leader stood up to greet them.

"Welcome everyone!" He said. "Have a seat and we'll get started."

Everyone did so, as the leader sat down to begin.

"Well, I guess you're all wondering why you're all where you are now." He said. "I hope that as you hear what I have to say, you'll all keep an open mind. First of all, the G-Bracelets. The first question on your minds are, why did you get them, and where did they come from, correct?"

Everyone looked at each other, and nodded.

"Well, first you need to know that the G-Bracelets are in fact from the future. About twenty years ahead, to be exact."

"What?" Jim said. "How is that possible?"

"Settle down. I'll get to that soon. Basically, the bracelets were created as tools for planetary defense. Fifteen years from now, they will be invented during an invasion from a group of extra terrestrials, called the Zunaa. We were able to end the war after a three year conflict, with many casualties, but we managed to create a peace treaty. The mobile suits we had originally created were not stored in the G-Bracelets as you have now. It wasn't until the peace that we began a technological exchange that gave us the ability to compress them into the bracelets."

"So how does this lead into our having them now?" Alan asked.

"Well, after two years of peace, the Mobile suit manufacturers began losing money, since their weapons were no longer needed. They made a deal with a black market Zunaa, and obtained a device that allowed them to go back in time. He sent them here, to when the world was at its most chaotic and war-torn. They figured their past selves would start manufacturing early, and they would make trillions. The only problem was, they were only given a time travel device that would allow them to send the bracelets only. So it was simply a matter of hit or miss, as to whether or not someone began making them."

"So how did you know it was happening?" Sandra asked.

"The Zunaa Council monitors the timeline for their homeworld rather closely." the woman who guided them said. "Once the treaty was signed, they offered to do the same, and noticed what was happening. They gave us the technology to take this entire ship back, as well as a few bracelets."

Jim's face snapped, as he realized something. "So you came back, and gave them to us, your past selves, is that it?"

The leader stood up, "Yes, Jim. We are your past selves, and the man you knew as Devereaux, was your past self."

Sandra pointed at their guide. "So, you're me?"

Future Sandra nodded and pointed at the other girl. "And she's Melissa. The older gentleman is Lars Keough, and I'm sure you can guess our leader's name."

"This is all starting to make sense." Alan said. "You knew how we were feeling at this age, so you sent us the bracelets, and told us exactly what we needed to hear at the time to get ourselves involved. But if you're me, then why didn't you do something to save Edgetown?"

Future Alan looked at his youthful self. "Because in my timeline, it never happened.

"How is that possible?" Alan asked.

"That was the problem with the Zunaa time travel system. It doesn't take you back to your own timeline, it creates an alternate timeline, where everything is the same, until your actions change things. Therefore, everything that happens here, has no impact on our universe's timeline."

Jim began to get angry. "If you were watching it happen, then why the hell didn't you do anything about it?" he asked angrily.

"Because we don't have our bracelets anymore. We gave them to you." Future Alan asked.

"If that's true," Melissa said. "How did Devereaux become Justice when he died?"

Future Melissa looked at her, "He was using a different bracelet entirely. There were two different Justice models created. Justice, which you're wearing now, Jim. And Infinite Justice, which our Jim took with him to Earth. He argued with us that he needed to be able to defend himself in case something were to happen."

Future Alan looked at everyone, ready to continue his speech.

"So here's where we stand. There are over fifty mobile suits left on Earth, and they're all coming up here to kill us, as you had planned. Your approach to minimalize human casualties has worked better than expected. But there's still one issue to deal with, and that's combat in space."

"He's right," Alan said. "How do we destroy the enemy bracelets without leaving them afloat in space to die?"

"We really do think alike," Future Alan said. "We intend to modify the weapons on your G-Bracelets, so that you can totally immobilize their main power sources on a direct hit. Once they're down, they will be painted for our Transport system to retrieve. We will wipe their minds, and then send them back to Earth once the battle is over. The only trouble is, we can't guarantee your safety with this plan."

"I wouldn't worry about us." Melissa said. "We can handle ourselves. But I'm sure you knew that already."

Future Melissa smirked at what she heard, as she pressed a button on a console on the table. A section of Alan, Jim, Melissa, and Sandra's tables opened up and a cylindrical object with a rounded end rose from it. The top opened up, and revealed an indented area.

"If you would all place your bracelets on the pedestals, we can begin the upgrades to your machines. Not only will you be able to neutralize instead of kill, but you will also have enhanced combat energy, meaning you won't run out of energy for 6 hours. We will also be feeding you Deuterium from our remote link on the ship. It should keep you out there even longer."

Everyone placed their bracelets into the pedestals, and each lid closed and began to glow.

"Now, while the bracelets are upgrading," Future Alan said, "I'll let Captain Keough give you his battle scenario."

Future Lars stood up. "During the battle, the Archangel should focus on disabling the weapons on the other battleship. Freedom and Justice can go out in the Meteor units we have on the ship to weed out the small fries, thus leaving only the best of the best. While weeding, Blitz and Strike should protect the Archangel and help disable the enemy ship."

"Meteor unit?" Alan asked, wishing he had his bracelet on to check his scanners.

"The meteor unit is an attachment piece designed for Freedom and Justice. It greatly hinders mobility during Melee combat, but has enough firepower to target and blast over twenty targets at a time. They have already been re-equipped with out neutralizers, so use them to your full advantage."

Alan looked at Jim and nodded. "We will." Alan said as he turned to the girls. "Ladies, as soon as our bracelets are refitted, I want you to return to the Archangel and brief our Lars on what's happening, then prepare for the battle."

"Yes, Sir." They said.

Future Alan looked at Alan.

"You seem to have a lot of respect from your friends." He said.

"We've been through a lot together." Alan responded, looking at his friends.

"It makes me wish I could have met my group early on."

The lids on each pedestal open, releasing the bracelets. Their appearance hadn't changed, and Team Freedom put their bracelets back on. Sandra and Melissa stood up and headed toward the elevator back to the docking port, as Alan stopped them one more time.

"I'm counting on you two. Good luck!" he said to them.

"Same to you." Sandra said as the elevator closed on them.

Several hours had passed as the preparations were being made. Each member of Team Freedom had an anxiety about them, wondering if this would be their end, or if they would come out of this alive and well. Alan stood at a window in the hallway of the Eternal, as Jim joined him.

"Worried about the battle?" Jim asked.

"A little," Alan said. "I just want everyone to come out of this all right."

"Listen, Alan. You need to know that I will likely be focusing on protecting Melissa while we're out there."

"Yeah, I know." Alan said as Jim seemed surprised. "It wasn't hard to figure out you two were becoming an item."

"What about you and Sandra? Any sparks there?" Jim asked.

"What? Me and Sandra?" Alan responded oddly. "I've never really thought about it. I've been too focused on the mission, and the thought of losing someone dear to me would be unbearable. I was glad to be single when I started this, otherwise I would have cut ties with her in case of the unthinkable."

"Well, maybe you should think about it. Just like you noticed me and Melissa, I've seen the way she looks at you." Jim said. "At first, I shrugged it off, and figured it was because you saved her from Calamity, Forbidden, and Raider, but now I think she's grown a real liking to you. She's a good girl, Alan. Give her a chance."

Alan looked at Jim and smiled in acceptance.

"Never thought I'd hear something like that coming from a rival." He said.

"Just don't forget who the better of us is." Jim said smugly.

"How's about a sparring session to prove that?" Alan said, just as an alarm went off within the ship.

"What the hell?" Jim said.

_"Freedom and Justice to the Bridge!" _ shouted the loudspeaker as the two began to run toward the bridge.

Their arrival was swift, as Alan looked on the viewscreen to see a large blue vessel in front of them.

"What is that?" Alan asked his future self.

"It's the Vesalius." He responded. "And We're detecting over fifty active bracelets. It's them."

"How long till they're within combat range?" Jim asked.

"Less than two hours." Replied the future Melissa.

"All right." Alan said. "Contact the Archangel. Tell them we're all out in one hour. I want to be ready for this fight, so we're going to change the battle plan a little."

"What do you intend to do?" Future Lars asked.

"Inform Blitz to rendezvous with the Eternal. I want her guarding it." Alan said.

Jim looked at Alan, realizing what he was doing. He whispered a "Thank you." To Alan for making it easier to protect Melissa. Alan nodded in acceptance, as he continued his commands.

"As for Jim and myself. Prep the Meteor units, we're going to launch in twenty minutes and take a cover position behind the Eternal's energy signature. We'll use Blitz as a decoy to lure the small fry mobile suits closer, and then take them out en masse. It should speed up the fight, and do the least amount of damage to the ships or us."

Future Lars looked at Alan, realizing his plan was good, maybe even a little better than his. He shouted to his crew, "You heard the man! Let's get moving!"

Alan turned to Jim. "You ready?" he asked.

"Always." Jim said.

"Then Let's go suit up." He said as they then rushed toward the locker room to put on their space suits.

The Archangel immediately received word from Future Lars about the change in plans, and Melissa and Sandra were in their locker room suiting up for the upcoming battle.

"I still don't understand why you're being sent to the Eternal," Sandra said "I would be a better choice for this kind of fight."

"That's why Alan wants you protecting the Archangel." Melissa responded. "You have a better chance of protecting it than me. With my limited firepower, I'd make an excellent decoy, while the Meteors hide. They'll go after the weaker link first."

"Aren't you worried something might go wrong?" Sandra asked.

"Nope. Jim will protect me." Melissa said confidently.

"So you two really are involved."

Melissa nodded. "What about you and Alan? You should tell him how you feel."

Sandra hung her head down. "No, it's not time yet. He's been through so much, and I just feel that it's not time yet."

Melissa walked over to her and brought her chin up. "It's the perfect time, if you ask me. He may not say it, or show it, but he needs someone right now to be there for him. And I know for a fact that he wants it to be you."

Sandra smiled. "Thank you, Melissa. I'll tell him when this is all over."

They both got up and walked to the docking bay, as Sandra stayed behind the airlock door. She gave a thumbs up to Melissa, as Melissa activated Blitz. The bay doors opened, and she took off toward the Eternal.

Shortly after Blitz's arrival, Freedom and Justice approached the Eternal's docking bay door, as it swung open. The two Nuclear Mobile suits launches, and each took position at one side of the Eternal.

"Okay, Eternal. We're in position." Alan said, broadcasting to Future Lars.

_"Roger that. Launching Meteor Units." _ He responded, as the sides of the eternal opened, revealing two large, silver machines, which launched out, and moved toward Freedom and Justice. The duo turned away from them with their backs facing the approaching machines as they seemed to envelope them. Eventually, they were connected to a backing system, which locked them in at the waist, and the elongated units coming from the sides, had places to grab onto with a trigger system for the weapon units. As soon as the connection was complete, Freedom and Justice thrusted themselves with their new addition to the rear of the Eternal, where they waited for, what they hope to be the final battle.


	15. Chapter 15: Reason

**Chapter 15: Reason  
**

The stage was set as the approaching blue cruiser moved closer to the Archangel and the Eternal. Strike was standing comfortably on the Archangel, which was behind the Eternal, with Blitz standing atop it. Freedom and Justice were hiding in between them, almost adrift in their new Meteor units.

"How much longer till they get here?" Justice said, "I hate this waiting."

"Relax," Freedom said, "They should be launching in about ten minutes, and we move out in fifteen. Not too much longer now."

Freedom didn't want to admit it, but he was getting anxious as well, waiting for the combat to start. He had no idea what to expect out of this battle, or whether or not everyone would come out of this okay. He started to remember his past experiences since he started fighting with the bracelet. The thought of being a hero and doing good in the world gave him a new reason for being, and he never thought about the things he could lose in the process. Even though losing his mother gave him more than a reason to give up, he continues to fight so that others don't suffer the way he and Jim have.

His thoughts continue to linger, only looking towards the good things that came out of this mission. The thought of his new friends helped him realize that there are people in the world that are worth fighting for. He then remembered what Jim said about Sandra. He decided to see if Jim is right, as soon as the war is over. A buzzing sound in his ear awoke him from his thoughts.

_"Attention Everyone!" _said Lars, speaking into a communication system, though no one could tell which Lars was talking. _"We just detected a massive energy spike in the Vesalius. It looks like their engine is going to overload!"_

"What!" Freedom said, as an explosion lit up the black. Sure enough, the Vesalius was destroyed, leaving nothing but shrapnel in its wake. Everyone on both ships couldn't understand what was going on. As Freedom's and Justice's scanners, now enhanced from the Meteors, detected something different.

"Dammit! It's a trick!" Freedom said, as he sent a communication to everyone, "All hands, Stay on alert! We have incoming! They masked their launch with that explosion! All enemy units are on approach! Repeat! ALL enemy units on approach! Time to intercept, three minutes!"

"Those bastards!" Justice said. "Good thing they'll be in range of our weapons before that."

"Right. No change in plans everyone. The mission is still the same. Justice, launch and lock on as soon as u can get any targets. Don't wait for a large amount, let's get them while we can as fast as we can."

"Understood." Justice responded.

"Strike, Blitz. Make sure you protect the ship, but I wouldn't worry too much. With no ship, they're going to try to take one of ours, once the opposition is taken care of."

"Yes, Sir!" Blitz responded.

"Count on me, Sir!" Strike responded.

"Good, Okay Justice, Let's move out!" He said as the two Meteor suits moved above the ships and moved into the battlefield at top speed. Freedom's first glance spotted four groups. Each group a squad of twelve or thirteen mass produced mobile suits, each with a leader, One with Calamity, one with Forbidden, one with Raider, and one with Lady Deathscythe herself.

Lady Deathscythe saw the approaching units, and called for a halt, as all the mobile suits stopped their position.

"Everyone, Scramble!" she said, as her scanners showed her what the Meteors can do. It was then that her scanners picked up someone targeting her.

Freedom and Justice locked on to as many targets as they could, as they all started to move more erratically than their approach. They fired as soon as they could, opening launch tubes all over the Meteor unit itself. The salvo of beams and missiles flew like one hundred arrows in an open field. Many of the blasts hit their targets without fail, and their suits were immobilized. The more skilled warriors, however, managed to evade the blast, including Deathscythe and her crew.

_"Great shot, Boys!" _Lars said over the comm. System. _"That was over half of them! Keep it up!"_

"Justice!" Freedom said. "Go right! I'll take the left! Once the sweep job is done, go help Blitz. Leave Deathscythe to me!"

"Understood!" Justice said, as the two units moved apart from each other. They continued locking on to more targets and firing at regular intervals. More and more targets were shutting down with this blast, and only twelve units in total remained. The disabled units began deactivating, and the pilots were then beamed to the Eternal.

"That's good enough," Freedom said. "Justice, go protect Blitz!"

Justice gave a nod and took off full throttle to the Eternal. The Archangel moved to the side of the Eternal, in order to take part in shooting down the other units. Calamity and Raider's remaining squad took on the Eternal, as Forbidden and his two remaining team members began to assault the Archangel. As Justice approached, he activated a trigger on his hand mount in his meteor unit, creating two rather large beam sabers coming out the front of the Meteor. He proceeded to charge behind, and slash right through the four remaining mass produced models in one swoop. The beam passed through them both, short-circuiting each unit. They were beamed away shortly after. Calamity and raider dodged, and Calamity launched a blast from its shoulder mounts, damaging the aft thrusters on the Meteor. Justice decided to dismount from the unit and fight on his own again. He pulled out one of his beam sabers and charged, as Blitz started fighting the Raider.

The hail of bullets being fired from the Raider, who is flying in his bird form, made a frontal assault difficult for Blitz, It was then that she activated the Mirage Colloid, and vanished before him.

"Where the hell did you go!" Raider shouted, as he began to fire wildly. He then felt a large thud from his back, as Blitz reappeared, and had kicked him, which the quickly followed up with a launch of one of her steel pikes, now upgraded with a beam tip for disabling mobile suits. The pike fired with accuracy, but Raider managed to recover quickly and dodge. Raider transformed into its mobile suit form and launched his spike ball at her. Blitz managed to dodge and grab the ball by its cord, bringing herself closer to Raider, and pinning him down to the ship.

As Calamity and Justice began their fight, Calamity was closely watching his partner's fight, and saw him pinned down to the Eternal. He continued to evade Justice's slashes, as he managed to fly out of the way, and launch a blast from his chest, aimed directly at Raider and Blitz. Justice saw the blast, but couldn't stop it, as Blitz saw it coming. She tried to get out of the way as the blast overtook them both. Bits of black shrapnel were scattered all over the damaged hull of the Eternal, as Justice looked in horror.

"No! WHY?" he screamed at Calamity.

"He was beaten, and it was an opportunity." Calamity said without a single bit of remorse for killing his comrade.

Justice's anger grew as he began swinging his beam saber at Calamity wildly. His rage was too intense that his attacks would never connect, and Calamity used it to his advantage. He countered every slash, and kicked Justice away long enough to fire another blast from his chest. As his blast charged, he was then impaled in the back by a beam. Justice recovered and looked to see Blitz standing behind him. Justice was relieved and impressed that she had used a sneaky tactic to take out the enemy. Calamity was then disabled and transported to the Eternal.

Strike continued her ongoing struggle with the Forbidden, with the aid of the Archangel's Gottfried cannons. The cannons were having no effect, due to Forbidden's transphase armor, but the force of each blast was keeping it at bay. Strike changed her equipment from Aile to Sword, giving her an edge in melee combat. The equipment appeared and she was now carrying an extremely large sword, with a proper blade at the tip, with one side containing a beam edge. Her left shoulder was mounted with a small shield, and a grappling hook was attached to the left arm. She drew the new sword and charged Forbidden. The blade of the sword and Forbidden's scythe clashed, but Forbidden was pushed away by the sheer size difference in weapons. He charged in again, and the blades clashed once more, but Forbidden then launched a chest blast at Strike from point blank range. The blast sent her flying into the hull of the Archangel, as Forbidden stepped on her chest and swung the scythe with intent to decapitate her.

"Time to die, Whore!" he said to her, as he lowered the scythe, and then tripped back, stopping the attack. He looked down at his leg to see Strike's grappling hook attached to his leg, and it pulled him down. Then, without getting up, Strike swung her sword down, and the beam passed right through the middle of Forbidden. He then disappeared without a trace, as the Archangel blasted away the last of his troops.

"Archangel all clear." She communicated to everyone.

"Good job, Strike!" Justice said. "Now the rest is up to Freedom."

Freedom charged at Deathscythe and her two remaining troops as the troops moved to intercept. In a flash of speed, Freedom dismounted from his Meteor unit, and twirled around to avoid enemy fire, while at the same time, drawing his beam saber. He charged right past them in a twirl, slashing both of them instantaneously. They then disappeared as he moved in face to face with Deathscythe.

"Your forces are gone, Justine." He said to her. "Let's end this fight now."

Deathscythe lead out a laugh and pointed to the other side of the moon.

"Who said it was over?" she said as Alan's scanners picked up another battleship appearing from what looked like a mirage colloid.

"That's the Minerva". She said. "My automated battleship, and I've instructed it to destroy all enemy battleships and units!"

"Why are you doing all of this?" Freedom asked her. "This can't be just about your grudge with society."

"It doesn't matter now! All that matters is that life must end!" she said as she charged after Freedom with her scythe. Freedom managed to evade, and a clash of blades began and ensued for some time.

As the Archangel and the Eternal saw the approaching battleship, Lars made a communication to his future self.

"Is that one of ours?" He asked.

"_Judging by the target locks on our ships, I'd say no_." Future Lars responded.

"You heard the man!" Lars said to his crew. " Aim all guns, Target their weapons! disable it!

"Sir," Informed the scanning officer. "I'm detecting no life signs, and the targeting system seems automated."

"Thanks for the tip. That makes our job easier." Lars responded. "Instead, blow that thing out of the sky! Fire all weapons when ready. Don't wait for my order!"

The Gottfrieds and Igelstellungs fired at the massive blue and white battleship, but it took minimal damage. Eternal started blasting away at it as well, but it just wasn't enough. The enemy ship fired back at the Eternal with an Ion cannon that revealed itself from the front. The Eternal sustained heavy damage, as the Minerva charged their weapon again.

"Move in to protect the Eternal!" Lars ordered the rest of his crew.

"Sir!" the scan officer said. "Multiple beam-ins to the cargo hold!"

"What?" Lars said as his comm. system activated.

_"We're sending you over the troops we recovered. They've all had their memories wiped, so just get them back to Earth. We programmed their beam out points, so all you have to do is activate the system."_

Lars realized what the future selves were up to.

"Hmm. Taking the easy way out then?" Lars said.

"_We don't belong in this time, nor can we go back."_ Future Alan said. _"Plus it's the best way. Just promise that you'll all succeed and come back alive!"_

"We will. Best of luck to you." Lars said as they closed their comm. channel.

The Eternal changed its course and headed straight for the Minerva. The pink ship managed to get into a closer range before the Minerva could fire its Ion cannon. The blast erupted from the Minerva's front and collided head on with the Minerva, causing an explosion large enough to destroy the majority of the Minerva with it.

Lars watched the destruction of the Eternal and stood from his chair, giving a salute to the brave soldiers who just gave their lives for the cause. The rest of the crew witnessed his actions and followed suit.

"Okay, Kid." Lars said. "The rest is yours."

Freedom and Deathscythe's battle continued, and their skills in melee combat seemed equal. Their struggle continues as their blades locked yet again.

"Give it up, Justine! You have nothing left. You've lost!" Freedom said.

"I won't give up until I die!" she responded as she pushed away.

"Until you die?" Freedom said, noticing her words. "You're not trying to kill me?"

"I'm trying to end all life!" she shouted as she charged again, being blocked by Freedom.

"Even yourself?" He asked.

"I'm dying anyway! Therefore life must end with me!" she shouted.

"You're dying!" Freedom asked as he pushed her away. "Why?"

Deathscythe stopped and let her guard down. "I was diagnosed with cancer last year, and it was too late to do anything about it. I only have a few years left to live. So not only has society shunned me, but life itself! Therefore when I'm done with you, I will incinerate all life on earth, taking everyone with me!"

Deathscythe let out a scream and began to glow.

"Deathscythe Hell, Upgrade!"

Her mobile suit changed into a more evil looking machine. With added wings, shaped like a bat, and a larger scythe.

"Now, Die!" she shouted as she charged him again. Freedom managed to block, but the sheer power of the scythe overpowered him, and he was slashed in the shoulder plate of his armor. Freedom tried making another charge, but she managed to evade, getting behind him, slashing his back plating, taking one of his wings clean off.

Freedom was knocked away, but recovered quickly enough to evade Deathscythe's next assault. His comm. line opened up to him during the battle.

_"You can't continue fighting like this!"_ Lars said. _"You need to upgrade!"_

"Upgrade? I was only able to do that once, and I don't even know how I did it!" Freedom responded.

_"Just let your mind go, and focus on your reasons for fighting!"_

Alan began thinking of everything he thought about before the fight began, and then focused on the most important thing, his love for Sandra. His moment of clarity arrived again, and Freedom began to glow.

"Alan Drake, Strike Freedom, Upgrade!" he shouted, as the Freedom upgraded to its most powerful form once again. The Strike Freedom returned, and began its next assault on Deathscythe Hell.

Along with drawing his beam sabers again, Strike Freedom launched his Dragoon blasters, which cornered Deathscythe and blocked her movements. Deathscythe managed to block the twin saber assault from Strike Freedom, but the attack caused Deathscythe's weapon to break. Strike Freedom moved back.

"This fight is over. Now put an end to this madness." Freedom said in a much calmer voice than before.

"No! I won't let it end!" she said as her wings closed on her and she disappeared.

"What?" he said to himself as she vanished. He launched his Dragoons again and fired in every possible direction. If she was moving, it would at least slow her down long enough to pinpoint her location. The Strike Freedom scanners pinpointed her most likely position, and it was behind him. He swung around and thrust his beam saber into the area, and stabbed her in the chest clean through.

"I'm sorry." He said to her, "Life may have thrown you around in a bad way, but that doesn't mean that people don't deserve their right to live. I hope you realize that when you get back to Earth."

"I won't be going back to Earth!" she said, as her systems were shutting down. "And neither are you!"

Just then, Deathscythe exploded in a grand burst. Strike Freedom could do nothing but take the blast full on.

The explosion lit up the small area where the fight ensued. Justice and Blitz, who had joined up with Strike atop the Archangel witnessed the explosion and was in awe.

"Alan!" Sandra shouted.

"Justice to Freedom, Come in." Justice shouted into his comm. system with no response.

Strike rushed herself toward the area of the explosion, and the others followed. The depths of space seemed much quieter than earlier, and the trip seemed to take forever. They arrived after what was near an eternity in Strike's mind, to find Freedom, reverted back to its original form, adrift in space and badly damaged.

"Alan!" Sandra screamed as she rushed over to him. Justice began conducting a scan on Freedom, and noticed something that relieved him immensely.

"It's okay, Strike." Justice said. "He's just unconscious. Let's get him back to the ship."

Strike grabbed Freedom over her shoulder and carried him back to the Archangel, with the others following.


	16. Chapter 16: Adventure

**Chapter 16: Adventure**

Alan, finally waking from his unconsciousness, opened his eyes groggily. He looked around and noticed he was in a medical room, and that he had an I.V attached to his arm. As he looked around, he could see someone sitting in a chair, curled up in a blanket. He realized it was Sandra, and decided not to wake her. Instead, he sat in his bed, thinking about his final battle. He was relieved that the fighting was finally over, but also upset that there were still lives lost, even if it was a small number.

It didn't take long for a doctor to enter and check up on Alan. As soon as she saw he was awake, she woke Sandra, and then went to tell the others. Sandra looked at Alan and began to shed a tear.

"Morning." Alan said.

"Welcome back." Sandra replied. "We were all worried about you."

"How long have I been out?" he asked.

"Four days now. We got back to earth and have been treating you ever since. You broke a few ribs in that explosion, and were knocked out, and most importantly, you worried me half to death!"

Alan looked at her seriously. "I know. I'm sorry. But you were the one who brought me back from the brink."

"I was?" she asked.

"Yeah." Alan responded. "Because of you, I had a reason to come back alive. So that I could tell you how I feel about you."

"Well, we can worry about that once you're back on your feet." She said with a smile, as the others walked into the room.

"There's our commander." Melissa said.

"Glad you won." Jim said. "Remember, you're not allowed to lose to anyone that isn't me!"

"Hey, first you gotta get to my level, boy." Alan responded with a smile.

"So, you were right. You pulled it off just like you said you would." Lars said. "To be honest, I thought we were all going to die up there."

"I think the thought crossed both all our minds at one point." Alan said.

"But today isn't just a celebration of victory." Jim said. "We lost some good people in that fight. They may not have been from our time, but they were still us, and without them, we would have never succeeded."

"That's true." Alan said.

Sandra started looking at everyone, as she removed her bracelet. "So, I guess it's time then, isn't it? We have to destroy the bracelets now, as well as the Archangel."

"That's right." Melissa said, holding onto Jim's hand. "It's going to be so weird going back to a normal life after all this."

"We'll manage." Jim said.

"Maybe we don't have to." Alan said.

Everyone seemed puzzled at what Alan said, as he began to explain.

"The objective was to end the threat of the bracelets on Earth. According to our future selves, there is still a real threat to come in the Zunaa invasion. I say, we set a course, and prevent that war from ever happening. We can start peace talks without the world ever coming to offensive blows with the Zunaa. We can continue to protect those on earth, by making first contact ourselves."

"How do we get there?" Melissa asked.

"Odds are the coordinates are in the Archangel." Jim said. "It is technology from the future after all."

"Listen," Alan said to everyone. "Whatever the outcome, I plan to go. As much as I'd like to stay here on Earth, it just wouldn't be the same for me. I've lost too much. Besides, who wouldn't want to go out and explore the depths of space? Who here didn't have a childhood dream of being an astronaut?"

Everyone looked at each other and realized that Alan was right.

"Looks like you've got us all there." Melissa said.

"So who's in?" Alan asked them.

Jim stepped forward, "You know I'm in." he said. "There's no way you're going without me. I gotta protect your ass, so that I can kick it someday."

Alan laughed as he looked at the girls. "How 'bout it ladies? It's gonna get real lonely up there. "

"Well, I sure as hell ain't sticking around and leaving you two to have all the fun. I'm in!" Melissa said enthusiastically.

"Alan," Sandra said. "Wherever you go, I'm going to follow, no matter what." She said.

"That a girl." Melissa said to her.

"Captain Keough?" Alan asked.

"I think it would be one hell of a story to tell the future generations. I'm in."

"Good." Alan said. "I want you to invite the crew as well, and we will ask the people of the island as well. Some may want to join us, and I'd like to show the Zunaa that we aren't all barbaric and violent."

"I'll make an announcement to the people tonight." Lars said.

"Actually," Alan said. "I'd like to have a town gathering this evening. Not only for this, but to honor the memories to our future selves."

"Consider it done." Lars answered, as he left to take care of things.

"I should go too." Jim said. "I'd like to go pay my respects to Chairman Devereaux."

"I wouldn't mind either. Would you like some company?" Melissa asked.

"You know I could never turn you down." Jim answered with a smile. "I'll see you guys tonight."

Jim and Melissa left and that left Sandra and Alan. Sandra walked over to him and gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead.

"You get some rest. I'm going to go help the Captain." She said to him.

"All right." He said as she walked out. "Oh, Sandra!" he said trying to get her attention.

She stopped to hear what he had to say.

"Thank you for taking care of me all this time." He said.

She looked at him and smiled, as she walked out of the room, and Alan began looking up at the sky blankly, without the fear of possibly dying tomorrow.

The arena area was crowded yet again that night, as the people of the island gathered around the Archangel, as Alan stood by a podium. He raised his hands to get everyone's attention.

"Well," He began. "Here we all are. At the beginning of a new age. An age where the war of the G-Bracelets no longer threatens our lives. We've all had our share of unfortunate moments, as well as our good times. You all have turned a bad situation into something amazing. You will always have that pride with you for the rest of your lives. Always be proud of these accomplishments. But we did not get here easily. There was a price to pay. I have gathered you all here to honor the memories of those you have met, but have not.

While we were up in space, we encountered people who turned out to be our future selves. They helped us to win the battle, and ensured victory by sacrificing themselves. They are true heroes, maybe even more so than we are. In any case. They are people who made sure that we all survived. You must remember them, as much as you remember the Chairman, as he was one of their operatives."

Alan paused for a moment so everyone could absorb the things they had just heard. He looked toward the others who were standing behind him, as he continued.

"With all that said, our mission is still not yet over. We have also learned that in the future, we will also be attacked by a group of aliens, called the Zunaa.

Thanks to some 'brilliant' talks with our government, we go to war with them. I say, we meet them first, and show them what good the human race can be. We plan to leave in a week. If anyone wants to join us on this adventure, they can speak with Melissa Rogers, or Lars Keough. I know it may be hard for you to trust Mr. Keough again, but he, like any person, deserves a second chance. That is all."

Alan stepped down from the podium, as the sounds of the people's conversations spread through the Arena. He joined the others, as Jim placed his hand on Alan's shoulder.

"Well said, man." Jim said to him.

"Thanks. So, how many of them do you think will join us?"

"It's not going to be easy." Lars said. "We can only hold a good crew compliment of about two hundred. We may have to turn down people."

"Well, we need to prioritize first." Melissa said. "I'm getting a list together of people with Mechanic skills, and they will have priority over the others."

"Good plan." Alan said. "We may need a few good hands if the ship breaks down. Keep at it. I need to go somewhere before we leave. Jim, you coming?"

Jim realized where Alan was going. "Yeah. Let's go."

"Wait." Melissa said. "Let us go with you."

"Sorry, love." Jim said. "We need to go alone this time. You two make sure everything is ready for when we get back."

Melissa clued in on where they were going, as she gave a nod. Jim and Alan suited up, as they took off for their former home.

"Hello, Mom." Alan said as he stood over the gravesite of his former hometown. "I just wanted to come here and say that we finally took care of what needed to be taken care of. Your life and the lives of everyone in Edgetown have been avenged. I also wanted to come and say goodbye. I'm off to places I don't think either of us ever expected to go. I'll always try to make you proud. Bye, Mom. Thanks for everything."

Jim walked over to Alan shortly after. They then looked around to see the destruction of the land one last time. The air was a bit cleaner than their last arrival, but the damage was still extreme.

"You ready to go?" Jim asked.

"Yeah. I'm ready." Alan responded as they suited up, and flew back to the Island.

The week went by with few problems. A full crew compliment was established, which included some civilians, each with simple jobs on board, as well as mechanics, now training with the schematics of the Archangel, and computer technicians and programmers. The bridge crew remained the same, With Captain Keough at command, and Commander Drake at his side, in the event that Team Freedom would be needed again.

The countdown to launch had begun, as the bridge was crowded with the bridge crew, and Alan's team of fighters. Alan placed his hand around Sandra and pulled her close as the engine fired with enormous force. The Archangel launched again, and began its thrust to the edge of the atmosphere. It didn't take long to make it into space, and the artificial gravity kicked in without fail.

"Helm," Lars commanded. "Plot course for the Zunaa homeworld."

"Yes, Sir. Course set."

Alan looked at his friends again, "All right, guys." He said to them. "Let's go see what's out there."

The engines roared again, as the newest journey of Team Freedom began.

THE END

"_Thanks everyone for reading the G-Bracelet Chronicles. I hope you all enjoyed it, as much as I did. Keep checking out my Profile, as I plan to fill some holes with my next book. "The G-Bracelet Origins". This, as the name states, will contain the stories of how some of your favorite characters received their bracelets, as well as their lives shortly beforehand. So long for now!"_

_D.K. Oken_


End file.
